Can you download videos from Famly or ParentZone?

Every so often a nursery shares a video. Your toddler stacking blocks, a wobbly first attempt at jumping, a singalong at the end of term. They're gold, and people understandably want to keep them. So can you actually save them off the app?

Short version: photos, yes, easily and in bulk. Videos, it depends, and it's more fiddly.

Why videos are the awkward ones

Apps like Famly, ParentZone and Bright Horizons FamilyApp are built around photos. That's the bulk of what nurseries share, day in, day out. Videos turn up now and then, but they're the exception, not the routine.

They're also handled less consistently. Some appear right in the feed. Some sit behind a separate player. Some are short clips, others are longer. There isn't one tidy "save" button that works the same way everywhere, which is why bulk-saving videos is harder than bulk-saving photos.

Photos are different. There are usually loads of them, they're stored in a predictable way, and a tool can work through the whole lot at full size in one pass. Videos don't follow the same neat pattern, so you can't reliably scoop them all up the same way.

I'll be straight with you: NurseryDownloader focuses on photos. It pulls every full-size original photo straight to your computer in one go, which is the part most parents are desperate to sort. It doesn't try to be a video tool, because videos on these apps are too patchy to promise.

How to save a one-off video

If there's a particular clip you really want, here's a simple way to try on a laptop or desktop:

1. Open the video in the app in your browser and play it.
2. Right-click on the video while it's playing. If you see "Save video as", that's the easy route, pick it and choose a folder.
3. No "save" option? Some apps let you download from the three-dots menu on the post, so check there.
4. Still stuck? Ask the nursery. Staff can sometimes send the original file directly, especially for a leaving gift.

It won't always work, and that's just the honest state of things. Videos aren't as reliably saveable as photos, and I'd rather tell you that than pretend otherwise.

A sensible plan

If videos matter to you, don't count on grabbing them all at the end. When a good one lands, save it that week using the steps above. Treat it as a bonus on top of your photos.

And do get the photos sorted properly, because that's where the bulk of the memories live and it's the easy, reliable part. There'll be hundreds of them, and they're the ones you'll actually reach for in a few years. The clips are lovely extras when they work.