What Does "Save" Mean on Pinterest? Explained

On Pinterest, “save” means bookmarking a Pin to one of your boards so you can find it again inside the app – it does not put a copy of the file on your phone or computer. That single distinction is the source of most Pinterest confusion for new users, so this guide breaks down what saving, repinning, and downloading each actually do, and when you need which one.

Table of Contents

Where “Save” Came From

Pinterest originally called this action “Pin It.” The company renamed it to “Save” in 2016 to make the action clearer to new users, since “pinning” wasn’t an obvious verb for people unfamiliar with the platform. Functionally nothing changed – tapping Save (or the older Pin It button) does exactly the same thing it always did: it adds that Pin to a board in your account.

What Actually Happens When You Save a Pin

When you tap Save, Pinterest creates a reference to that Pin inside the board you choose. The image or video file itself never leaves Pinterest’s servers – your account simply keeps a pointer to it, plus the caption and source link. That’s why a saved Pin disappears from your board if the original poster deletes it: you never had your own copy of the file, only a bookmark to theirs. If you want to learn the full account and boards workflow first, see our beginner’s guide to using Pinterest.

Saving vs. Repinning vs. Downloading

These three terms get used loosely, but they do different things:

Term	What It Does	File Leaves Pinterest?	Works Without Internet?
Save	Bookmarks a Pin to one of your own boards	No	No
Repin	Same as saving – an older term for saving someone else’s Pin to your board	No	No
Download	Copies the actual image or video file to your device	Yes	Yes, once downloaded

“Repin” is largely a leftover term from Pinterest’s early years; today the interface only shows “Save,” and it behaves identically whether the Pin originally came from another user’s board or from an outside website.

Does Pinterest Let You Download Directly?

Sometimes, with real limits. Pinterest’s own help documentation confirms a “Download image” option exists in the three-dot menu on some Pins across web, Android, and iOS – but it also states plainly that “not all Pins can be downloaded.” Video is more restricted: a video Pin only offers a native download if the original uploader allowed it, and most have not. The desktop website has no download button for video at all. That’s the gap that dedicated tools like our Pinterest video downloader exist to close – paste a Pin link and get the actual video file, following our step-by-step download guide.

When You Actually Need to Download Instead of Save

You want the photo or video available offline, with no app or internet connection required.
You plan to reuse the file elsewhere – a presentation, a WhatsApp status, a printed reference, editing software.
You are worried the original Pin might get deleted or made private later.
You want the file in your phone’s own gallery instead of buried inside the Pinterest app.

If your goal is any of the above, saving alone will not get you there – see our guide on downloading Pinterest videos straight to your phone gallery for the fastest path.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “save” the same as “pin” on Pinterest?

Yes. Pinterest renamed the “Pin It” button to “Save” in 2016. Both refer to the same action: bookmarking a Pin to one of your boards.

If I save a video Pin, can I watch it without internet later?

No. A saved Pin still streams from Pinterest’s servers, so you need an internet connection to view it. Only a downloaded file plays offline.

Why can’t I find a download button on some Pins?

Pinterest’s own help pages confirm that not every Pin supports native downloading, and video Pins only allow it when the original uploader has permitted downloads, which most have not.