I have been using Avast Secure browser with the extension “Video downloader” for a long time but since recently I haven’ been able to download any video on YouTube. Is anything blocking the process?
Video downloader forcefully downloaded itself as an extension about 2 to 3 weeks ago. It’s not like a normal extension; one cannot remove it, only deactivate. I have had strange occurrences since then on my browser and have uninstalled it. I felt i was not alone
Dear Users,
We want to inform you that the “Video Downloader” extension has recently been removed from our Secure Browser. We understand that this may be an inconvenience, and we sincerely apologize for any issues this has caused.
Rest assured, we are committed to improving this feature and will be reworking the extension from scratch. We will share an update very soon.
Thank you for your patience and valuable feedback — it helps us make Secure Browser even better.
Best regards,
Sandu
pues estamos a enero y sigue sin funcionar,al final lo quitare
How long do you need finish this video downloader. We have now end of January 2025!!!
Hi everyone,
We’re working hard on a new and improved Video Downloader, but it’s taking a bit longer than expected. Our goal is to make it better, faster, and—most importantly—keep it free for everyone. We really appreciate your patience and will share updates here as soon as we have more news.
Thanks for sticking with us!
Hello!
??? And now it’s even 6 months later.
Are you really going to put it back or is it just a manner of holding us with avast secure browser?
Please be fairful, it’s better to know where we’re going.
The first post in this thread was almost a year go, and still nothing.
I’ll be honest. The only reason I use Avast’s browser, in fact the only reason I subscribe to Avast’s security software at all, is because of the Youtube downloader extension.
At this point, it really feels like we’re being strung along and that Avast have given up on the extension.
So I, for one, have canceled my upcoming renewal, and will keep the money for myself. If the downloader makes a functional return, I’ll resubscribe, but not until then.
Hi @Uileag ,
We have released a new Video Downloader extension, please make sure you are running Browser 139.0 and check the extensions page. We only started activating the extension two weeks ago but you can try enabling it yourself from the extensions page.
BR
Sandu
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I have the new version dowmloader and it worked for about a week but it now does not, It displays a ‘download failed’ flag with a try again link but that does not work either.
YouTube is constantly making changes to prevent the downloading of videos from the website. We are working on addressing the issue and plan to release a fix, hopefully within the following two weeks.
Thank you for your patience.
High, former video downloading user here. I would’ve said ‘video downloader user here’ but as of now…well, let’s get into that. While I am speaking to the entire message board, this message will also serve as a dialogue with Sandu (Employee). I’ve been in contact with avast staff, and someone isn’t telling the truth here.
Let’s start at the beginning. 2024, July-ish, I go to download something using the video downloader. No good. I call avast. Avast people say it’s broken. Okay, sure. Wait a bit, nothing, wait some more, still nothing, wait some MORE…still nothing. Call again…exchange emails…they give me the same message each time. “We’re working on it, it’ll be back soon, please be patient.” I even get a fairly snooty response saying that because this is a free extension, it doesn’t matter that I’m a paying customer. Remember that, it’ll be important in a minute. All the while, there’s barely any proper communication. No public statements, no timeline, nothing. I want to let everyone reading this know right off the bat that it shouldn’t take this long to fix some broken code. It literally can’t, because in the time that it’s taken them to fix this, dozens of (shady) websites that to be fair, do download videos for you, have gone up, and come down. But hey, maybe it was on the backburner, I can accept that. It would be great if they just said it wasn’t a priority, but whatever.
Fast forward to Sept. 13, 2025. SanduRM, the only employee who seems interested in updating people on this, puts out the following message.
“We have released a new Video Downloader extension, please make sure you are running Browser 139.0 and check the extensions page. We only started activating the extension two weeks ago but you can try enabling it yourself from the extensions page.
BR
Sandu”
Great! It’s back! It’s here! Happy days!
Little did I know, days would not be so happy.
I go to try and get the new version of the extension. Doesn’t work. Try reinstalling the browser. Doesn’t work. Hmm…I should ask for help. Go to avast to get help (As a side note, your website is broken. There’s no option to just email someone, and when you try to access the ONE place that promises you can talk to a human through such means, the sight 404’s.), I get on the phone, and receive the following information:
“We need to sign into your computer.” No you don’t, I just need the link for the addon, you guys said it’s back up and running but didn’t provide instructions.
“Oh, well temper your expectations (she says this like three times like it’s just gonna absolve them from helping me), but you need the paid-for version of the browser.” No I don’t, you SAID it’s free, it’s a FREE addon, I have the email, and you’ve mentioned nothing about a new, paid-for version. Also, if you pay for a web browser, you probably shouldn’t have access to money.
“Well, our official stance is that the addon isn’t working right now.” No, your employee’s have said, in plain text, you have released a new extension. Please provide the correct link for it, the one on the store doesn’t work.
“Uh…well…listen, I don’t know who posted that.” It was one of YOUR employees, how could you not know?
As you can imagine, in the 30 minutes I was talking to someone, who btw consulted their head engineer multiple times, nothing was accomplished. And it’s at this point that I begin to get a very frustrated. This company has been promising for over a year that they’re fixing their service without actually providing proper, meaningful updates, only to the release a pre-whatever version that (in my experience) the browser spit back without even TRYING to interface with. Then, when they say it does come out, customer support is like ‘yeah, that’s not real’.
Someone is hiding a ball here. Either tech staff don’t know what they’re talking about, or whoever this mystery/rogue employee (as I understand them to be based on that phone call, there’s no way in my mind that both of these people can be on the same page here) is giving us false hope. I don’t know which is which. I would love for someone to give me something other than a boilerplate response on the matter, but I don’t think we’ll be getting that any time soon.
To avast…be better than this. People are paying you because they like your services. Whether this is a free thing or not, make that clear. Put out CLEAR statements beyond ‘oh it’s coming’. Timelines, what to expect, or if it’s cancelled, just SAY SO.
And to everyone else, if you’re reading this and are as heated as I am that there’s still seemingly no answer…allow me to provide one. Download OBS Studio. It should be the first result when you google ‘obs’. This will allow you to record videos and music for whatever purposes you need. It’s not perfect, trust me…there’s work arounds to keep in mind. But it’s better than nothing. And considering nothing is all I’ve got to show for this experience, that’s saying a lot.