Downer — Video Downloader for macOS

Downer is a lightweight, native macOS app that lets you download your videos or audio from YT and more with just a few clicks. It lives in your menubar for quick access and also offers a full-featured main window.

✨ Features

• Download video + audio, audio-only, or video-only
• Choose from popular resolutions and formats
• Pick your destination folder
• Settings are persisted and shared between the main app and the menubar popover
• Minimal and clean native macOS UI with red-accent styling and dark mode support

Darkmode	Lightmode
Menubar App	Settings

🚀 Usage

1. Launch Downer.app
2. Paste a YouTube URL
3. Choose download type, resolution, format, etc.
4. Press Download
5. Watch status updates in real time
6. Right-click the menu bar icon to open or quit the app

All preferences are remembered across launches.

💽 Installation Guide

1. Download and Install the App

Head over to the GitHub Releases page and download the latest .dmg file.

• Open the .dmg and drag Downer.app into your /Applications folder.
• Make sure yt-dlp and ffmpeg is installed. If not install with brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg.

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2. Allow the App to Run

macOS might block the app from launching, saying:

“Downer.app can’t be opened.”

This happens because the app is not signed with a paid Apple Developer account. But you can manually allow it using Terminal. Follow the instructions below.

1. Sign the app locally with an ad-hoc signature

codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/Downer.app

2. Remove the quarantine flag so macOS treats it as safe

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Downer.app

🔧 Building from Source

Requirements

• macOS 14+
• Xcode
• yt-dlp, ffmpeg, and ffprobe installed anywhere on disk
  • Homebrew: brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg
  • Or downloadable static binaries

Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/dsameendra/Downer.git
   cd Downer

2. Open Downer.xcodeproj in Xcode

3. Set your personal signing team

   1. In the Project navigator, click Downer (the blue project icon).
   2. Select the Downer TARGET → Signing & Capabilities tab.
   3. From the Team dropdown choose your Apple‑ID team (or add one). Automatic signing is sufficient for local builds—Xcode will generate a debug profile and sign the bundle.

4. Install the yt-dlp and ffmpeg command‑line dependencies (skip if you already have them).

5. Build and run.

6. First‑run setup

   1. Go to Settings → Tool Paths.
   2. Verify the paths to yt-dlp, ffmpeg, and ffprobe (Homebrew defaults should be auto‑detected).
   3. Choose a global shortcut if you like.

📦 Installing Locally

If you're building the app yourself via Xcode, you can export and install it manually like this:

1. In Xcode, go to Product → Archive
2. Once the archive is complete, Xcode will open the Organizer window
3. Click Distribute App → choose Custom → then Copy App
4. Save the exported .app file to your desired location on disk
5. Copy the Downer.app to your /Applications folder

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⚠️ Disclaimer

This tool is intended solely for personal use and educational or research purposes.

Downloading videos from YouTube may violate their Terms of Service unless the video has an explicit download button or the content is licensed in a way that permits downloading.

By using this app, you assume full responsibility for any content you download and how you use it. The developer does not condone or support any misuse of this tool to infringe upon copyrights or violate platform rules.

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Built with ❤️ using yt-dlp and ffmpeg. Huge credit to the amazing developers behind these tools.