I built a clean Facebook & Instagram Video Downloader for iOS using Capacitor and Next.js (No more spammy ad sites!)

#ios #newapp #socialmedia #downloader

Hey DEV community! 👋

I wanted to share a utility project I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. I recently launched an iOS app called Fb Insta Downloader.

The Problem 😡

Every time I tried to save a video or reel from Instagram or Facebook to watch later, I had to use those random online video downloading websites. You know the drill—they are completely bloated with aggressive pop-up ads, sketchy redirects, and "your phone has a virus" warnings. It’s an absolute nightmare for user experience.

So, I decided to build a clean, minimal, and safe native app solution for myself and others.

The Tech Stack 🛠️

Instead of going full native or using heavy cross-platform frameworks, I went with a fast web-hybrid approach:

Frontend/UI: Pure JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
Mobile Shell: Packed using Capacitor to build the iOS package. It allowed me to bridge the web environment smoothly into an native package with handy plugins for handling the file system, media saves, and ad networks (AdMob/Unity).
Backend API: A dedicated Next.js (TypeScript) API running on my server.
Video Parsing: The server handles the link extraction using yt-dlp to safely fetch and serve the highest resolution possible directly to the client side.

Early Roadblocks 🧠

The coding phase was smooth, but getting it live on the App Store connect and fighting through ad mediation approvals was a huge grind. Balancing ad delivery without messing up the clean interface I originally wanted has been a tricky optimization puzzle.

Check it out! 🚀

Since this is my first major hybrid app release, I would absolutely love to hear what other developers here think about this architecture or the app itself.

If you want to test it out on your iPhone, just let me know in the comments and I’ll gladly share the App Store link!

Thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts on hybrid utility apps below.