A download manager is an app specialized in downloading files from the Internet faster and in a more organized manner. However, not all these apps integrate with Mozilla Firefox. FlashGot resolves this situation by integrating them into Firefox. As of December 2011, FlashGot recognizes and supports 51 different external download managers. When a user chooses to download one or more files, FlashGot offers to send them to the detected download manager. Additionally, FlashGot can detect video embedded in web pages and send their download links to download managers. It supports downloading from the popular YouTube service.
Mozilla broke compatibility with Flashgot (and many other add-ons) in version 56, so it works only on older Mozilla versions.
FlashGot supports metalinks for sending mirror and checksum information to supported download managers for faster and more reliable downloads.
Version 1.2.1.13 included an experimental "Search Refinements for downloadable files and media" feature based on Surf Canyon technology. This functionality, which submitted search keywords to Surf Canyon for processing, was easy to opt out of with one click but enabled by default, prompting criticism equating the feature to adware and spyware, even though no user data was reused, shared or stored. The feature was disabled in version 1.2.1.14 and removed in version 1.2.1.15.In March 2006, PC World included FlashGot in its list of “101 Fabulous Freebies” and regards it as “indispensable”. The last version of FlashGot was released in December 2016 and is not compatible with Firefox 57 or later versions. FlashGot is free software, as it is released under the GPLv2 open source license.
