It is exhausting to discover a good, dependable app to obtain movies off the web. Evidently every time I discover one in all these instruments that I get pleasure from, there is a good probability that, quickly, it’s going to both cease working, be deserted by its builders, or get bought to a shady new proprietor. One app that is by no means confronted these points is Downie for Mac. Downie is a one-click video downloader for tons of of internet sites, together with YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Fb, Vimeo, and lots of extra. It has been often up to date for a few years, and comes with a easy enterprise mannequin—a one-time cost of $20. It is simply the perfect, most dependable possibility I can reccomend, assuming you have got a Mac.
Find out how to use Downie to obtain movies
Credit score: Pranay Parab
As soon as you put in Downie in your Mac, the only approach to make use of it’s to put in its browser extension in no matter browser you utilize. There are alternatives for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
After that, simply open any webpage that has a video, press the Downie button in your browser’s toolbar, and the app will deal with the remainder. It actually is so simple as that. The one subject you may run into is that if there are a number of movies on a web page. For instance, when you open your Instagram feed in a browser, and press the Downie button, the app cannot simply obtain each video out of your feed. The trick is to open the particular publish you need to obtain in a brand new tab first, earlier than urgent the Downie button.
When you have the URL of the video you need to obtain, you may additionally simply copy and paste it in Downie instantly, which helps you to skip putting in any browser extensions. For websites that Downie does not help, there’s additionally a user-guided extraction mode that will help you obtain movies, though it is not foolproof. I have never come throughout any web site the place I’ve wanted to make use of it but, but when you’ll want to, you’ll be able to take a look at the developer’s information to utilizing the function. Simply do not anticipate to get previous copy safety with it.
In my testing, Downie was in a position to obtain many of the movies I wanted to save lots of. I attempted Downie on a bunch of different social media websites and video platforms, and it labored fairly nicely, even on tough ones like Instagram Reels. Essentially the most notable exception was Instagram Tales, which it could not obtain with any diploma of reliability, however you need to use different web sites to obtain these.
Configuring Downie’s settings
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Whereas Downie appears easy on the floor, it is extraordinarily configurable, so it is value going by its settings to customise it to you. Whereas Downie is open, click on the Downie button within the menu bar and choose Settings. Now, undergo every of the obtainable tabs to see what the app has to supply. Within the Common tab, you’ll be able to choose obtain high quality choices, which is useful when you do not need to replenish your Mac’s storage by downloading 4K movies.
The Vacation spot tab permits you to configure the place you need your downloaded movies saved, and the format you need for video recordsdata. It additionally permits you to save video thumbnails as pictures. It’s also possible to extract audio from video recordsdata, which implies that if you wish to convert a YouTube video to an MP3 file, Downie can try this for you. You may configure this function within the Postprocessing tab in Downie’s settings, the place it permits you to select if you wish to obtain audio as MP3, M4A, or within the authentic format.
What do you suppose thus far?
The Subtitles & Audio settings part can also be useful, particularly when you’re exhausting of listening to. It has a neat possibility that allows you to obtain all obtainable subtitles, even throughout a number of languages. The Proxy Server tab permits you to allow a function the place you’ll be able to obtain movies blocked in your area, too. Lastly, there’s the Supported Websites tab, the place you’ll be able to configure particular person obtain settings for every web site that Downie helps. There are a couple of extra settings pages you can undergo if you would like even finer management, however you need to be superb with simply these fundamentals.
Getting Downie at a lower cost
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Downie’s $20 price ticket could seem a bit steep for some, however sustaining an app like Downie is a number of work. Web sites preserve altering their code on a regular basis, which implies that Downie has to remain forward of the sport to make sure you can obtain movies from them. I’ve seen loads of cases the place apps that do not get up to date wind up ineffective, and that is why I worth having a reliable app the place the enterprise mannequin is obvious.
Having mentioned that, Downie is out there as part of Setapp, which helps you to entry over 200 Mac apps for $10/month. My colleague Justin Pot has given Setapp his personal endorsement, and I’ve to agree that it is a whole lot. Should you plan to make use of extra than simply Downie, it could possibly be a great way to save cash general.
