Introduction​

With the release of 2023.2.0, WhaleDown introduced external browser (Google Chrome) support. This exciting feature is available on both Windows and macOS.

We noticed that the built-in browser can not pass AntiBots check of some websites recently. That is the best scenario of using external browsers.

Usage​

Currently, there is no separate interface entry for launching an external browser. You need to click the Launch Google Chrome button on the blank page of the built-in browser.

If WhaleDown find that Google Chrome isn't installed on your computer, WhaleDown will prompt you to install it.

When a new video item is detected, there will be a floating mini-detector widget at the top-right corner of screen. When you click on it, WhaleDown return to the main window and show the detector view.

Then, you can use it as you did before.

Future​

This is an initial technical validation release. There are still a few missing features. This initial user interface design is a bit simple. It's clear that we'll refine it even more in the future.

The detector widget will be totally redesigned. We will provide a unified user experience for both the built-in browser and the external browser.

We are considering moving the built-in browser into a new window. The built-in web browser will be released as a standalone application eventually. This will reduce the installer/DMG size dramatically.

Acknowledgments​

Thanks to those who suggested to support Google Chrome / Extensions.

We are happy to announce the release of WhaleDown Desktop version 2022.4.0.

In this version, we addressed a critical preformance bug on Windows. We recommend all windows users to update to the latest version.

Facebook and Reddit has been added to the list of free downloading websites. Now, you can download videos from Facebook and Reddit without a license.

Thanks to the feedback from @joanisapro, we added a new context menu item -Convert to MP4. When a m3u8 stream is downloaded, you can use this feature to convert it from .mpg to .mp4.

For more details, please refer to the changlog.

Known Issues​

1. Failed to download live streams on Windows
2. No downloading progress of DASH streams on Windows

We are happy to announce the release of WhaleDown Desktop version 2022.3.0. This version ships with lots of new features and bug fixes.

The most exciting feature is supporting HLS(m3u8) streams which stream videos and audios separately. You may have already noticed that some videos downloaded do not contain audios. From version 2022.3.0, WhaleDown can download and merge videos and audios seamlessly. As a result, the Experimental Downloader option is removed from the downloader's preferences view.

In this version, we add some new interceptor rules to detector to support DASH(mpd) streams. For DASH streams, WhaleDown will download videos and audios sequentially, then merge them after downloading finishes. We also updated the DASH downloader to diplay the downloading progress and status of videos and audios.

There is a new option Download without asking in the detector. When it is checked, WhaleDown will download videos without showing a confirming dialog. And a Download All button will be displayed on the top toolbar of the detector. (Thanks to @Mike_Toasted)

For more details, please refer to the changlog.

We are happy to announce WhaleDown Desktop 2022.2.0 releases today.

What's new​

• [app] Fix 'Load License Error"
• [detector] Display more details about detected videos
• [detector] Update Ads filter rules

For more details, please refer to the changlog.

We are happy to announce WhaleDown Desktop 2022.1.0 releases today. This version brings lots of new features and bug fixes.

Since this release, WhaleDown will not support Windows 7 and macOS 10.14. Please use version 2021.2.5 if you want to run WhaleDown on unsupported operating systems.

What's new​

• [app] New tray icon and tray window
• [app] New menu entry - Find My License
• [browser] Suggestions pane for address bar
• [browser] Bookmarks manager
• [detector] Side by side mode (Thanks to @Mike_Toasted)
• [detector] Add support to 20+ Chinese video sharing websites
• [downloader] Free to download TikTok videos

For more details, please refer to the changlog.

We are happy to announce WhaleDown Android 2022.1.1 today. This releases ships with lots of updates and bug fixes.

What's new​

• [browser] New settings view.
• [browser] Update design of top toolbar.
• [browser] New navigation controls.
• [detector] Optmize rules for TikTok and DouYin.
• [downloader] Long press to show context menu".
• [downloader] Show download speed.

Bug fixes​

• [browser] Fix can not navigate bug after going back to blank page.
• [detector] Fix a critical bug in detector rules engine.
• [downloader] Fix file size estimation bug.
• [downloader] Fix a critical performance bug.

Credits​

Thanks to @Anonymos for suggestions.

We are happy to announce WhaleDown Android 2022.1.0 releases today.

What's new​

• [browser] Suggest filling URL from clipboard.
• [browser] Optimize logic for hardware back events.
• [downloader] Show downloaded size instead of timestamp".
• [downloader] Support base64 encoded key of HLS(m3u8) protocol.

Credits​

Thanks to @Anonymos for suggestions.

Today we are excited to announce the new version 2021.4.3, an Apple Silicon only version.

To support Apple Silicon, the technology stack used by WhaleDown updated the minimum system requirements to Windows 10 and macOS 10.15. Therefore, we have to drop support of Windows 7, macOS 10.13 and 10.14.

In the following years, we will continue to develop and support macOS Intel version until it is dropped support by Apple.