People always compare Android as an easy to customize operating system. Compared to iOS which has a lot of limitations. But there are always workarounds.
In this article, I will share with you how I made a Youtube Downloader with available apps.
If you do not know, iOS 13 introduced a new application call Shortcuts. It can perform really simple actions or complicated functions. For example, when your device is connected to your home Wi-Fi, the shortcut can run a trigger to turn on all the lights in the house.
One feature of the Shortcut application is it allows “Run Javascript on Web page”.
With this feature, we can add our custom javascript into any page we like! Hence this is the script that we will be injecting.
This script basically looks for any videos and add a download icon beside it. The button will pass the link to a remote server which will create the download link.
Pre-requisite
- VLC App
- iOS 12 or iOS 13
How to use with Safari
- Download the shortcut here https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/cda4234704db4c21815e0e9b8b1c87a7
- Open up Safari and head to https://youtube.com
- Press the Share icon and select the shortcut added in step 1. (You will see the download icon being added beside each video)
- A popup will show “Open with VLC”.
How to use with Youtube App
- Download the shortcut here
- https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/a0902bd5b784440e889b6bef149f0a50
- Open up Youtube app
- Press the Share icon and click on “More”. You will find the shortcut “Youtube DL”. Click it.
- A popup will show “Open with VLC”
Limitations
There are a few limitations to this shortcut but I think that it’s sufficient enough for the minimal effort.
- Cannot download < 1080p videos
- Can only download videos
- Requires a remote server to generate the download link
Limitation 3 may be possible to overcome but I have not found an easy way to generate the download link on the client itself. Do leave a comment if you have a way to do so.
