Riot has postponed the adjustment to public match replay download permissions in League of Legends until version 26.21, and is seeking solutions for content creators and coaches who rely on replays. This restriction has not been revoked.
The plan previously announced with version 26.20 stipulated that players could only download replays of matches they participated in, no longer allowing downloads of other players' replays; third-party applications and websites would also lose download permissions.
Riot stated that the adjustment was made to fix a security vulnerability exploited to create unauthorized tools around game data. One content creator speculated that someone was mass-scraping public replays to build bots, but this was merely their personal assumption and not a cause confirmed by Riot.
The main objections concern the use of replays for learning and content creation. Creators produce commentary videos using high-level matches, while coaches and players aspiring to compete professionally watch replays from pro or high-ranked players. The restriction has been delayed until version 26.21, allowing time to adjust for these use cases; the specific form of the alternative solution has not yet been announced.