After Twitter shuttered Vine in January 2017, the question over what happened to all those six-second videos has been a source of confusion. Twitter released the Vine Archive shortly after closing Vine, but, as of 2019, the Vine Archive is no longer supported.
If you were as heartbroken as we were when Vine closed, you're probably wondering how to find and watch old Vines. Thankfully, all hope is not lost, as you can still watch your favorite Vines online. It's just that you might have to put in a little work to do so...
What Was Vine?
In 2013, Twitter released Vine: a short-form video-sharing platform. Each Vine, or video, only lasted for six seconds and then replayed in a continuous loop. The brevity of the videos meant that the user had to get extra creative, which made for some amazing (and hilarious) content.
Despite Vine raking in tons of users and views, Vine just couldn't compete with the other big names in social media. More people started turning to Instagram and Snapchat to create fun videos. And features such as Snapchat's wide array of filters and lenses attracted a ton of users.
So, in 2017, Twitter killed Vine. Vine's shutdown left its community feeling abandoned, as much of it was still active. As some sort of consolation, Vine briefly remained active as Vine Camera, and also kept every Vine in the Vine Archive. Unfortunately, both the Vine Camera and the Vine Archive have since been discontinued.
At the beginning of 2020, Vine's creators released a replacement for Vine. This platform, called Byte, allows users to create and share looping six-second videos. However, despite its relationship to Vine, there's no way to view old Vines on Byte.
How to Watch Old Vines
So, how do you watch old Vines now? When you head to the Vine website, you won't see any Vine videos. Instead, you're met with a depressing page that says goodbye to Vine and its users. However, there are other ways to find and watch old Vines.
While you can still access old Vines, it's not as easy as it used to be. The following methods will teach you how to find old Vines and rediscover your favorite Viners in the most painless ways possible.
1. Use a Direct Link to the Viner's Page
Do you still remember your favorite Viner's username? If you do, you're in luck---you can use their username to locate their videos in the Vine Archive.
To watch old Vine videos this way, type the Vine URL followed by the Viner's username in this format: vine.co/username. Simply replace "username" with the specific username you're looking for.
For example, I added the username "nickcolletti" at the end of Vine's URL: vine.co/nickcolletti/.
As you can see in the above photo, you can then browse through that user's entire library of Vines. It still displays how many revines, loops, and likes each video got. Not only that, but you can also see the date the Vine was posted, as well as the Vine's original caption.
2. Find Vine Links on Twitter
If you happen to come across a Vine link on an old Twitter post, you can still click on it. This link will lead you to the video's page on the Vine Archive.
You can find Vine links rather quickly by navigating to a Twitter profile and clicking the Media tab. This tab compiles all of the photos and videos shared by a Twitter user, which includes Vines. If you decided not to delete all of your old Tweets when everyone else was doing so, you can also locate your own Vines using this method.
Scroll all the way down to the user's posts from 2016 (this might take a while), and locate any Vines they posted. Simply click the bottom half of the video, where the "vine.co" link is, and you'll get redirected to the Vine Archive.
From here, you can click on the Viner's username in the caption of the Vine. This lets you browse the rest of the Viner's videos.
Looking at a Viner's page might also help you find other usernames you can't remember. Since Viners often featured or tagged each other in Vines, you just might find links to another Viner's page.
3. Watch Vines on YouTube
YouTube has become a life-saver when it comes to watching old Vines. Quite a few users have taken the time to save and compile old Vine videos.
You can start your search by typing "best Vines" or "Vines compilation" into YouTube's search bar. Using these keywords (or something similar) will yield hundreds of results featuring the most popular Vines.
These Vines may not replay on loop, but it's still a viable way of finding and watching old videos. Plus, the YouTubers that put together these Vine compilations often include the usernames of the Viners. This gives you yet another way of finding the usernames of forgotten Viners.
4. Use the Wayback Machine
In case you want to relive the full Vine experience, you can access it using the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive. This tool lets you go back in time to visit websites that no longer exist, or to see the previous forms of existing sites.
When you type "vine.co" into the Wayback Machine's search bar, it'll display Vine's entire timeline from 2012 to the present day. The desktop browser version of Vine was introduced in June 2014, so you'll want to narrow down your search from June 2014 to Vine's shutdown date in January 2017.
As you view the calendar of snapshots on the Wayback Machine, you can click on a series of dates and times. Each date and time shows what Vine looked like at that exact moment. It might take several tries to find a working version of the old site, but it's worth the effort.
When you find a snapshot that actually works, you can see what's on the front page of Vine for that time period. All of the videos are fully playable, and you can even use the search function.
How to Find and Watch Old Vines in 2020
When it comes to figuring out how to see old Vines, Twitter doesn't make it easy. Which means you'll have to do some digging to find forgotten usernames and old links. However, despite the legwork you might have to put in to find old Vines and Viners, it's worth doing.
Since Twitter killed Vine, other short video platforms like TikTok have taken its place. And if you've already switched to using TikTok, here's how to get more TikTok fans and followers.