TikTok does not add its watermark as a separate layer that a player can switch off. The logo and username are composited directly into the pixels of the video when TikTok renders the copy that gets served to the app, and the position shifts between corners every few seconds. That movement is deliberate — it defeats the obvious workaround of cropping a fixed region, because any crop large enough to catch every position would remove a third of the frame.
This is why the difference between a real no-watermark download and a fake one is easy to spot. Tools that blur or inpaint the watermark leave a smeared rectangle that drifts around the picture. Tools that crop produce a video with a changed aspect ratio and missing edges. A genuine no-watermark file has neither, because it is simply a different file — the rendition TikTok stores before compositing.
Quality is decided entirely at upload. TikTok accepts 1080p, but only preserves it when the creator recorded at that resolution and had the high-quality upload option switched on. Plenty of popular videos exist only at 720p or lower on TikTok's own servers. When that is the case we show you the real maximum rather than upscaling and calling it HD, because upscaling adds file size without adding detail.
One quirk worth knowing: the audio in a downloaded TikTok is the mixed soundtrack as published, not the original commercial track. If the creator layered a voiceover over a song, you get both together. Separating them is not possible from the published file.