Connect a Sniffing Browser
Sniffing requires a Chromium-based browser that supports debugging connections. Each time you create a sniffing session, you choose the browser and launch mode for that session.
Supported browsers
Section titled “Supported browsers”XiaDown can currently detect Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Arc, Helium, Opera, Opera GX, and Yandex Browser. The actual choices are those shown as detected under New Sniff.
Choose a browser and launch mode
Section titled “Choose a browser and launch mode”- Click + → New Sniff at the bottom of the main interface.
- Select a detected browser.
- Choose a launch mode:
| Launch mode | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Browser Default | Available only for Chrome. Connects to the current Chrome session; Chrome must be running with remote debugging enabled and permission granted for XiaDown to connect. |
| XiaDown Managed | Uses a browser profile managed separately by XiaDown and does not inherit sign-in state from your everyday browser. |
XiaDown connects and opens the Sniffing page after you choose a launch mode.
Start a session
Section titled “Start a session”- Visit the target page in the opened browser.
- Play the target media or perform actions the page requires, such as scrolling or changing quality.
- Return to XiaDown to view newly captured resources.
XiaDown displays the current page, tab count, and session status. After the browser opens, playing media again or refreshing the page can generate new resource requests.
Sign-in and verification challenges
Section titled “Sign-in and verification challenges”When sign-in is required, complete it directly in the opened browser. Browser Default uses the current Chrome session; sign-in, cache, and history for XiaDown Managed are stored in a separate profile.
The browser state used by Sniffing serves a different purpose from App Sessions. App Sessions provide account state to downloads, YouTube, and YouTube Music, while Sniffing uses the current browser session.
Close and clean up
Section titled “Close and clean up”- Closing the sniffing tab or the XiaDown-managed browser stops the session from producing new resources.
- Clicking “Stop Sniffing” ends the current connection.
- Manage or delete XiaDown-managed browser profiles under Settings → General → Browser Data. This does not clear data from your current Chrome profile.
If the browser does not start, reopen New Sniff to detect browsers again or choose another supported browser. If Browser Default is unavailable for Chrome, check remote debugging and connection permission. If the problem continues, see Troubleshooting.