We're excited to release WhaleDown for Desktop 2025.04.0. This release brings the long-awaited Digital rights management (DRM) support.

What's new​

To decrypt DRM-protected videos, we've introduced a brand new browser extension - Video Detector Helper. You won't feel it at all though, because WhaleDown automatically installs and enables it.

With the help of this extension, WhaleDown supports downloading videos from more websites.

Limitations​

1. When a video in a web page uses DRM (Windvine) technology, it may not play on the web page. The video player usually says “Video source error”.

2. Currently, WhaleDown only decrypts DRM-protected videos after the download is complete. You are unable to preview the video you are downloading in real time.

3. WhaleDown currently only supports decrypting DRM-protected videos on Windows and macOS. Also, currently only Google Chrome has good support for the WhaleDown browser extension.

4. There are a variety of DRM protection techniques on the market. For now, only Widevine is supported by WhaleDown.

What's next​

We're looking forward to introducing DRM-protected Video Preview feature in the next release. Additionally, we intend to add a simple user interface (UI) to the browser extension.

We're officially releasing the brand new WhaleDown for Desktop 2025.02.3. This is a completely rewritten version.

We've decided to push updates to all users starting today. Please refer to the changelog documentation for the changelog.

Compatibility​

Due to the new data structure of WhaleDown 2025, its data is not compatible with WhaleDown 2024 and earlier versions.

But that doesn't mean data loss. When you switch back to the old version, you'll still be able to see your data (especially the download module).

You can keep using your previous license as long as it hasn't expired.

Stability​

After months of testing, we believe WhaleDown 2025 is stable even better than WhaleDown 2024 and previous versions. Our development team thanks all users who contributed to the tests.

If you find new bugs during use, please give us feedback promptly. Our development team will fix it as soon as possible.

Conclusion​

We realized the development plans for Q1 and Q2 2025 in the roadmap ahead of schedule. We'll be working hard to develop new features for the rest of the year.

We're excited to release the brand new WhaleDown for Desktop 2025.02.1. This is a completely rewritten version.

It was previously mentioned in our The 2025 Roadmap that we are planning to launch a public beta in Q2 2025, but now we've decided to release it early.

Improvements​

This version has rewritten the entire user interface with Flutter. For now, we've unified the technology used on Android and desktop.

Although our goal is to be at the level of WhaleDown 2024 in terms of functionality, the new version brings a lot of improvements.

1. Supports playback of separate video and audio
2. Better DASH streams support
3. Universal (Intel & Apple Silicon) installation package available on macOS
4. Dramatically reduce the size of the installation package
5. Remove the built-in browser as planned

In addition, there are plenty of detailed improvements that can't be listed here.

Acknowledgments​

Some users helped us with testing in January 2025 and provided lots of suggestions and bugs feedback. These feedback includes, but is not limited to,

1. Show download speed
2. Report a bug with merging video/audio
3. Report a YouTube download bug
4. Report crash on some macOS Intel devices

Our development team appreciates the help from these users. It's because of you that we've made WhaleDown more powerful and stable.

Conclusion​

Our development team has completed the goals in the roadmap ahead of schedule, and is working hard to complete the remaining development tasks.

We recommend all users try WhaleDown for Desktop 2025.02.1. At the same time, we look forward to hearing from you.

We spent a day migrating to the PayPal payment platform. Everything seems to be going well so far.

Our team is very sorry for the trouble this payment platform switch has caused users.

The Motivation​

On January 24, 2025, there was an issue with the MyCommerce platform, which prevented users from purchasing our software.

As early as July 2024, there was a problem discussing the operation of MyCommerce on the internet. Many vendors say they can't get their money back.

Although we had plans to migrate our payments platform in the Q4 2025 in our previous roadmap, the above issues forced us to change our plans.

The Impact on Users​

For new users, there is absolutely no impact. For former users, if you want to continue using our products, please purchase a license using PayPal.

The previous pricing plan offered discounts starting the second year for users who chose to automatically renew. However, due to the switching payment platform, this discount will be discontinued.

We will reimburse this portion of our users for their losses, please read the plans we mentioned below.

Our Plans​

We plan to provide a three-month free license for users who meet the requirements below,

1. You previously purchased a license for WhaleDown on the MyCommerce platform.
2. This license expires between January 25, 2025 and January 31, 2026.
3. Your order remains automatically renewed.

Users who meet the above requirements can request this free license from us via Email or Twitter.

About the Future​

PayPal appears to be more widely used than MyCommerce. We're currently happy with the rich APIs PayPal provides.

In the second half of 2025, we'll be introducing an account module and integrating it with PayPal. We wanted to simplify license management and allow users to manage their own subscriptions.

Happy New Year everyone!

This is our first time posting a roadmap about WhaleDown. In 2025, WhaleDown will bring users a series of surprises. We can't wait to share the changes that are expected to come.

2024 Year in Review​

Our main job in 2024 was to develop WhaleDown for Android using Google's Flutter technology. We are very happy with Flutter.

Currently, we're using it to rewrite the user interface of desktop versions. Apart from the downloader module, the rewrite work is almost complete.

The new user interface brings revolutionary speed improvements and fluent user experience. We can't wait to release it sometime in 2025.

Our 2025 Roadmap​

Our 2025 development plan is ambitious. We'll be rewriting the entire software's user interface (UI) and introducing some long-awaited features such as user accounts.

The problem of some streams separating video and audio will be solved very well.

Q1 2025​

Our developers will soon complete the development of the only remaining module - downloader. Development work is expected to be completed in January.

We are preparing for internal testing in early February. If you're interested in the alpha version, you can contact us to request a download link.

Q2 2025​

We plan to release a series of beta versions. If all goes well, we'll gradually push out updates for users.

In the meantime, we'll update the online documentation. In particular, complete the documentation for the currently missing detector and downloader modules.

Q3 2025​

We want to introduce a brand new account module. In addition to simplifying license management, it also helps users sync data (such as bookmarks, download history) between devices.

In the future, we may use a membership system to replace the current license.

Q4 2025​

We are planning to introduce other payment platforms, such as PayPal. Furthermore, we want order-related operations to be done within the software without using a browser.

It will provide users with more convenient billing management experiences.

Conclusions​

In 2025, we'll unify the code base for WhaleDown for Android and WhaleDown for Desktop. We will try our best to ensure that WhaleDown has consistent functionality and user experience across all platforms.

Let's all look forward to the new WhaleDown coming soon. Also, we welcome suggestions and bug reports from all users.

WhaleDown Browser is WhaleDown's built-in browser. It has existed for over a decade and has gone through two complete rewrites.

Unfortunately our development team decided to deprecate it due to some technical reasons. Meanwhile, WhaleDown also provides a better alternative.

Why?​

We found that it has the following limitations compared to browsers such as Google Chrome,

1. Can't sign in to Google Account (The video cannot be played)
2. Can't bypass CloudFlare Challenge (The video cannot be played)
3. Unable to intercept network responses (Makes it impossible to sniff videos from sites like Gofile)
4. Unable to execute Javascript in an iFrame (Makes it impossible to sniff videos hosted on the Vimeo platform)

Additionally, every update to the WhaleDown Browser kernel takes up a lot of our developers' time. Also, WhaleDown Browser takes up half the size of the installation package.

These are the reasons our development team decided to gradually deprecate WhaleDown Browser.

Roadmap​

1. Q4 2024, We'll update website, documentation, and mark WhaleDown Browser as deprecated.
2. Q1 2025, We will add a notification that WhaleDown Browser will be deprecated in the main WhaleDown program and changelog.
3. Q2 2025, We'll remove WhaleDown Browser from the installation package.

What's Next?​

Currently, WhaleDown has great support for third-party browsers. We recommend that all users migrate to the browsers supported by WhaleDown below,

1. Google Chrome
2. Microsoft Edge
3. Brave browser

When WhaleDown Browser is removed, our developers will have more time to improve other WhaleDown modules. You'll enjoy a better experience using the software.

About WhaleDown for Android​

For technical reasons, WhaleDown for Android will keep the built-in browser, and it won't provide a standalone browser app.

We are happy to announce the release of WhaleDown Desktop version 2024.09.0. This release fixes several long-standing bugs.

First, we fixed an annoying UI bug. When users want to operate one item in the detector, WhaleDown sometimes operate the other item.

Our developers also fixed an incorrect duration and length display bug when downloading a live stream. This bugfix was also ported to WhaleDown for Android.

Additionally, we've fixed an HTTP redirection bug and a bug that incorrectly uses the key cache (m3u8).

Known Issues​

We've also discovered two bugs that have been partially solved.

1. Currently, browsers such as Google Chrome launched through WhaleDown cannot exit along with the main program. Once the main program exits, the browser becomes an orphan and doesn't send any detected videos to the newly opened WhaleDown.

2. Additionally, users have reported that WhaleDown on MacBook Pro has a high CPU load. This bug only occurs on laptops.

We confirm that these bugs were introduced by the upstream SDK. After waiting for the new version of the upstream SDK to be released in October, WhaleDown will merge updates and release new bugfix versions as soon as possible.

Acknowledgements​

We would like to especially thank an anonymous user who has provided lots of bug feedback and test links over the past few months. With his help, our developers fixed more than a dozen bugs and released version 2024.09.0.

We are happy to announce the release of WhaleDown Desktop version 2024.08.1. This is an important bug fix release.

First, we fixed a bug related to downloading live video streams. You can now save a longer live stream without being interrupted unexpectedly.

Second, we discovered a major change in the Vimeo platform, which changed the technology for video transmission. Some users extract playlist.json from network packets but are unable to download it.

Our development team solved this problem by smartly controlling the browser. You can download all videos hosted on Vimeo via Google Chrome.

We're very excited to announce the release of WhaleDown for Android - 2024.08.0. This is a brand new release that brings great desktop-level functionality and user experience.

Introduction​

This is a brand new version that includes almost all the features of the desktop version. Due to Android platform limitations, WhaleDown can't support browsers such as Google Chrome on Android.

WhaleDown for Android shares core technology with the desktop version. Our developers ported the most important download module to the Android platform. This is an important step for WhaleDown to support multiple platforms.

Thanks to Google's Flutter technology, it only took us half a year to complete WhaleDown for Android development. Now our team can develop new features and fix bugs faster.

If you're using an Android tablet or foldable phone, you'll notice that WhaleDown presents a different user interface layout. Users familiar with our product will find that the tablet version has almost the same user interface layout as the desktop version before 2023.

About the Future​

We take WhaleDown for Android very seriously. In the future, new features or bug fixes will be introduced to WhaleDown for Android as a priority.

Additionally, we plan to port WhaleDown for Android to desktop platforms (Windows and macOS) in 2025 to replace the current desktop version. At that time, we will be using uniform technology across all platforms.

In 2026, we plan to bring a new account and membership system. This will simplify the payment process and license management.

FAQs​

Currently, users of the trial version can download videos entirety. Only paid users can export videos. We may change this strategy in the future.

The WhaleDown license can be used on all platforms. This means that if you've already purchased a desktop license, you don't need to buy another Android license.

We are happy to announce the release of WhaleDown Desktop version 2024.06.0.

First, we've designed a brand new blank page for all browsers. It helps you better recognize the browsers launched by WhaleDown.

Some users have reported that the name WhaleBrowser might be confused with Naver Whale Browser. In fact, these are two completely different softwares.

To reduce this trouble, we've renamed the built-in browser back to WhaleDown Browser.