Download YouTube videos and other content straight to your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Free. No cloud. No account.
Download for WindowsDouble-click VidGrab.exe on your Windows computer. It starts a local server on your WiFi network.
The app shows a URL. Type it into Safari or Chrome on your phone. Same WiFi, that's it.
Paste a YouTube link, tap Download. When it's ready, tap Save and open it in VLC.
The app runs on your computer and does the downloading. Windows 10 or 11. No install — just run the .exe.
Your phone and PC must be on the same WiFi. The phone talks to the PC over your local network — nothing goes through the internet.
Free app to play downloaded videos on your phone. Handles every video format.
Click the download button above and save VidGrab.exe anywhere on your PC (Desktop, Downloads, wherever).
When you first run VidGrab, Windows will show a blue "Windows protected your PC" popup. This is normal — it happens with every new, unsigned app.
Why does this happen? Microsoft charges developers $200–400/year for a signing certificate to remove this warning. VidGrab is free and open source, so we skip that cost. The app only runs a local server on your WiFi — it doesn't install anything, modify system files, or send data anywhere.
Open the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Google Play (Android) and search for VLC. Install it. It's free.
Double-click VidGrab.exe. A window opens showing the downloader interface. At the top you'll see something like: http://192.168.1.50:5000
Make sure your phone is on the same WiFi as your PC. Open Safari (iPhone) or Chrome (Android) and type in the URL shown in VidGrab. You'll see the same downloader interface on your phone.
Go to YouTube, find a video, tap Share → Copy Link. Go back to VidGrab in your browser, paste the link, and tap Download.
Your PC downloads the video. You'll see a spinner while it works. Most videos take 10–30 seconds depending on length and your internet speed.
When the download finishes, it appears in the "Downloaded" list. Tap Save to download the file from your PC to your phone over WiFi.
iPhone/iPad: When the file downloads, tap it and choose "Open in VLC". Or open VLC and find it in the Local Network tab.
Android: Open VLC, it will find the video in your Downloads automatically.
Yes, completely free. No account, no subscription, no limits.
No. Your PC downloads directly from YouTube, and your phone downloads directly from your PC. Everything stays on your local WiFi network. No data leaves your home.
This is normal. Windows shows this for any new app from an "Unknown publisher" — meaning the developer hasn't paid $200+/year for a Microsoft signing certificate. Click "More info" then "Run anyway". VidGrab only creates a local server on your WiFi. It doesn't install anything, doesn't run at startup, and doesn't send data anywhere.
You need WiFi (or any local network) for your phone to talk to your PC. Your PC also needs internet to download from YouTube.
Yes. VidGrab uses yt-dlp under the hood, which supports 1000+ sites including Vimeo, Twitter/X, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Just paste any video URL.
VLC plays every format without issues. The default iOS/Android players sometimes can't handle certain codecs. VLC just works.
If this were a cloud service, every download would cost server bandwidth (~$0.05–0.15 per video). By running on your own PC, there are zero server costs and it's faster since the file transfers over your local WiFi.