Sites behind a login

Some sites show a video only after you sign in: online course platforms, online cinemas, members-only sections. You don't have to give Video Tracker your password: the app downloads with the same login the player uses. How you sign in depends on the device.

Mac: the logins of your browser

Where: Mac · Plan: Free and Pro

The Mac app's built-in browser works on the profile of your usual browser. Before a page opens, the site's cookies from that profile are put into it — if you are signed in to the site in Chrome or Safari, the page in Video Tracker opens already signed in, and yt-dlp uses the same logins. You don't sign in a second time.

Settings › Browser & Logins:

• Browser for logins — by default your system browser.
• Profile — by default the last used profile of that browser.
• Per site — a separate browser for a site, for example Safari for youtube.com while Chrome is used everywhere else. A rule for a site also covers its subdomains (music.youtube.com).
• Built-in browser only — don't use a browser profile; then you sign in inside the built-in browser, and it remembers the logins between launches.

The profile menu is also in the toolbar and in Found on this page: choose Switch profile — the old profile's logins are removed and the page reloads with the new ones. The choice is remembered.

Signed in just now — “Refresh login”

If you signed in to the site in your browser after opening the page in Video Tracker, press Refresh login: the app re-reads the profile and reloads the page.

Safari: Full Disk Access

Safari keeps cookies in a protected folder, so the app needs Full Disk Access. macOS doesn't show a request for it — only you can turn it on:

1. When you choose Safari, a window with Open System Settings appears (the same in Found on this page). Press it.
2. In Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access switch on Video Tracker (or add it with +; Show the app in Finder helps to find it).
3. Return to the app — it picks up the access by itself and reloads the page.

Chrome, Edge, Brave: Keychain

The first time the app reads a Chromium-based browser's profile, macOS asks for access to its “Safe Storage” item in the Keychain — choose Always Allow. If you denied it, press Try again in the panel and allow it.

Phone: sign in inside the app

Where: Android · Plan: Free and Pro

Android don't let apps read other browsers' cookies, so sign in to the site once in the app's built-in browser, as in any browser. The login is remembered between launches, and downloads and yt-dlp use it.

Browser extensions: nothing to do

Where: Chrome and Safari · Plan: Free and Pro

The extension works inside your browser: logins are the browser's own session, and downloads go with its cookies. If the video plays in your browser, it can be downloaded — no extra setup.

Website: logins in a remote browser

Where: the cabinet on the site · Plan: Pro

In the cabinet the server looks for videos, so it needs its own sign-in to the site. Open Site logins (https://video-tracker.ru/app/#/auth):

1. In New site login enter the site's sign-in page — a browser window running on the server opens.
2. Sign in as usual: the login and password go straight to the site, the service neither sees nor keeps them.
3. Press I'm signed in — save the session. The session is kept for 24 hours and is used automatically when videos are looked up on this site (The site needs a login when you start a download).

Revoke deletes the saved cookies; Delete removes the entry from the list. Google and YouTube don't let you sign in from a remote browser — for them use Cookie import: export the cookies from your usual browser and upload the file (they work for 7 days). For YouTube, better use a separate account, not your main one. Your site logins are visible only to you. This is part of Pro — see Plans.

Clearing the built-in browser's data

Where: Mac and Android · Plan: Free and Pro

Clear built-in browser data… in the settings (section Embedded browser; on Mac — Browser & Logins) removes cookies, cache and site data of the built-in browser: you are signed out of all sites in it. Your own browser's logins are not touched.