Phantom Recorder Documentation & User Guide

Getting started

1Download Phantom-Recorder-<version>.zip from our Discord (the link is on the tool page).
2Unzip it anywhere, for example into Documents\Phantom Recorder, and start the program. There's no installer and no Python to set up — ffmpeg is bundled.
3Open Settings and choose Where files go. Everything you record or fetch is saved there.
4In Watch, click + Add a person and type their usernames on the card — one field per service.
5Turn on Live and/or Story for the accounts you want watched. Phantom Recorder now checks them in the background.

Your app data is stored in %APPDATA%. Rotating backups are kept in your Documents folder — see Updates & backups.

The main window

The window has three parts that never change: the top bar, the section you're in, and the status bar at the bottom.

Search box: “a name, a link, or what you are looking for”. Type a person's name to jump to their card, or paste a profile or post link.
WatchGetKept: The three sections. The highlighted one is where you are.
Settings: Opens the settings dialog.
Discord: Opens our Discord server — for new versions, help and feedback.
··· menu: Your platform sign-ins, the Activity log and Check for updates.
System tray: Phantom Recorder can minimise to the tray so watching keeps running. Use Quit from the tray icon to stop it completely.
Status bar: Left: the latest event with its time, e.g. 22:14 @nasa is live – recording at 1080p. Right: how many accounts are watched, how many recordings are running, and the folder files go to.

Watch

Watch is the home screen. Every person you follow has one card, and each card holds their usernames on all supported services: TikTok, Instagram, OnlyFans, Fansly, X, Snapchat, YouTube.

4 people · 12 thing(s) watched across 7 services: How many cards you have and how many account/feature switches are turned on in total.
Pause all: Pauses watching for everyone at once, without changing the switches on any card.
+ Add a person: Creates a new, empty card. Give it a name, then fill in the usernames you know.
Look now: Checks every watched account immediately instead of waiting for the next automatic check.

Person cards

A card is everything Phantom Recorder knows about one person. From top to bottom:

Name: The person's display name, also used in Kept. The ·· button next to it opens the card's options.
Status line: What's happening right now — see all status messages. While recording it shows resolution, duration and size, e.g. 1080p · 21 min · 412 MB.
– kept: How many files you have saved for this person (a dash means none yet).
4 of 7 services named · 2 watched: How many services have a username filled in, and how many of those have Live or Story switched on.
Service row: The dot is in the service's colour when a username is set and grey when it isn't. Empty fields read not set · type a name; leave them empty if the person doesn't use that service.
LIVE switch: Watch this account for livestreams and record them automatically when one starts.
STORY switch: Save new story items from this account as they appear.
– (dash): That switch doesn't apply to this service, or no username is set yet.
records at Original (best): Appears under an account with LIVE on. Choose the recording quality; Original (best) keeps the highest quality the stream offers.

At the bottom of each card:

Open folder: Opens this person's folder in Explorer.
Fetch posts: Jumps to Get with this person selected.
Stop recording: Only visible while a live is being recorded. Ends the recording and finalises the file right away.

Get

Get fetches what's available from a person's accounts — posts, stories, highlights, chat media and the profile picture — and shows it in one grid, whatever service it came from.

Get section for Orbital Desk showing twelve posts from TikTok and Instagram as a grid of image and video tiles, some marked pinned. — Get — 12 posts from 2 services for one person · hover or tap the numbers

First row: who and what

Person: The card you're fetching for. Pick another person from the list.
PostsStoriesHighlightsChatPicture: What to fetch. Chat is for services with chat media (e.g. OnlyFans); Picture is the full-size profile picture.
12 item(s) from 2 service(s) · 24.9 MB: What the current view contains and its total size.

Second row: filter and layout

Everything: Filter by media type: everything, only images, or only videos.
Any time: Limit results to a time range.
New only: Hide items you've already saved, so you only see what's new since last time.
page 1 of 1 · show per page: Page through large results and set how many tiles a page shows.
SMLXL: Tile size.

Third row: services

Each service has a chip. Its label tells you its state:

TikTok 8: Fetched — 8 items came from this service. Click the chip to show or hide them.
X get: A username is set but nothing has been fetched yet. Click to fetch.
OnlyFans no name: No username on the card for this service.
YouTube by link: This service works by pasting a link into the search box rather than by browsing a profile.
fetch up to 24: The maximum number of items to request per service in one fetch. Raise it to go further back.

Tiles

Each tile shows the type (image or video), a pinned label for posts pinned to the profile, the date, the resolution and the file size. The coloured dot marks the service. Previews appear as soon as they arrive, so you can start browsing while a large fetch is still running. Click a tile to open it in the media viewer.

Media viewer

Title and size: The item's name and resolution, top left.
‹ ›: Previous and next item in the current list.
1 of 12: Where you are in the list, next to the item's resolution.
×: Closes the viewer and returns to the grid.

Kept

Kept is your library: every file you've saved, newest first, grouped by day.

everybody: Show everyone's files, or pick one person.
Service chips: Show or hide files from TikTok, Instagram, OnlyFans, Fansly, X, Snapchat, YouTube. Each chip is outlined in its service colour.
Search: Search by person, service or file name.
10 file(s) · 107.9 KB: Count and size of what the filters currently show.
Refresh: Re-reads your save folder — use it after moving or deleting files outside the app.
Export CSV: Saves the current list as a CSV file you can open in Excel or other tools.
Day headings: e.g. TODAY 3 files · 8.8 KB — each day with its file count and size.
Tiles: The person's name, the service and type (e.g. TikTok post, Instagram story) and the time it was saved. A ▸ badge marks videos.

Settings

Where files go · Choose …: The folder all recordings and downloads are saved to. It's also shown in the status bar.
A folder per account: On: each account gets its own subfolder. Off: files for a person share one folder.
Network: An optional proxy as http://host:port. Leave it empty to connect directly.
Tools: Path to your own ffmpeg.exe. Leave it empty to use the bundled one — you only need this if you want a specific ffmpeg build.
Notify when something is saved: Shows a Windows notification for each new file.
Check for updates at startup: Quietly checks for a new version when the app starts. Nothing is installed without your confirmation — details.
Share anonymous statistics: Sends only the app version and a daily count token: a hash that changes every day. No account, no name, no machine identifier, and never which people you watch or which platforms you're signed into. It lets us count how many people use each version and whether updates succeed.
CancelSave: Changes apply only when you click Save.

Platform notes

OnlyFans

Phantom Recorder fetches posts from profiles your logged-in account is subscribed to, plus chat media, including media you bought.

No paywall bypass. Locked content stays locked and never gets a download address. Phantom Recorder only archives what your account can already open.

OnlyFans signs its API requests inside its own web app, so Phantom Recorder uses a real Chrome session. You sign in once in that browser window; the session is kept, and sign-in and fetching use the same browser profile. Browser results come back as soon as the fetch is done — the browser closes in the background.

Instagram

Instagram retired the /api/v1/feed/user/ endpoint. Requests to it sometimes returned the website instead of post data, which looked like throttling. Phantom Recorder now reads the same data Instagram uses to build a profile's post grid. Posts, stories and highlights are supported.

Services without a profile view

When a service chip in Get says by link, paste the link to a video or post into the search box instead.

Updates & backups

Updates

With Check for updates at startup on, the app checks quietly when it starts. You can also check any time from ··· → Check for updates. If the server can't be reached, the app simply starts normally.
Updates are optional. You confirm before anything is installed, and you see the download progress.
Every release is signed (Ed25519) with a key that never leaves our release machine, and its SHA-256 checksum is checked. Modified or corrupted packages are rejected — even a compromised update server couldn't produce one the app accepts.
Updates only travel over HTTPS, and the server never sends code or commands — it only names a version, a file and its checksum.
The previous version is backed up during the swap. If the new version doesn't start correctly, the old one is restored and relaunched automatically.

Backups

Your people, settings and history are stored in %APPDATA%.
Rotating backups are written to your Documents folder.
If the data folder is deleted or cleaned up, the newest backup is restored automatically the next time you start the app.

Backups cover app data only. Your recordings and downloads live in the folder from Where files go — back that up yourself.

Status messages

The line under a person's name tells you what's happening, with a coloured marker:

Recording: A live is being recorded. Shows resolution, duration and file size so far.
New: New items were found and saved, e.g. 3 new story item(s).
Quiet: Everything is being watched; nothing new right now.
Cannot see: An account couldn't be checked, with the reason, e.g. Instagram is throttling this account. The app keeps trying on its own.

Troubleshooting

“Cannot see — … is throttling this account”: The service is limiting requests for that account. Wait — checks continue automatically. If it keeps happening, a proxy under Settings → Network can help.
A live wasn't recorded: Check that LIVE is on for that account, that the card isn't paused (Pause all), and that the app was running — closing the window keeps it in the tray, Quit stops it.
OnlyFans shows nothing: Sign in again in the Chrome window Phantom Recorder opens. Only content your account can open is fetched.
Files are missing in Kept: Click Refresh. Check Where files go in Settings — Kept only reads that folder.
My people and settings are gone: Restart the app: the newest backup from your Documents folder is restored automatically.
Still stuck?: Ask in our Discord and include your version number (top left, under the app name).

FAQ

What does “Cannot see — Instagram is throttling this account” mean?

The service is limiting requests for that account. Checks continue automatically; if it keeps happening, set a proxy under Settings → Network.

Why wasn't a live recorded?

Check that LIVE is switched on for that account, that watching isn't paused with Pause all, and that Phantom Recorder was running. Closing the window keeps it in the tray; Quit stops it.

Does Phantom Recorder bypass OnlyFans paywalls?

No. Locked content stays locked and never gets a download address. Phantom Recorder only archives what your logged-in account can already open.

Where are my files saved?

In the folder chosen under Settings → Where files go. It's also shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

My people and settings are gone — what now?

Restart Phantom Recorder. The newest backup from your Documents folder is restored automatically at startup.

Are updates installed automatically?

No. Updates are optional and only installed after you confirm. Every release is signed and checksum-verified, and the previous version is restored if an update fails.