diff --git a/env.yml b/env.yml
index de72ce7..d3578ec 100644
--- a/env.yml
+++ b/env.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ dependencies:
   - h5py
   - pytorch=2.1.2
   - torchvision
+  - pooch
   - pip
   - pip:
     - numpy
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 754f62c..f384d79 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ install_requires =
     magicgui
     qtpy
     h5py
+    pooch
     ; pytorch
     ; torchvision
     timm
diff --git a/src/featureforest/SAM/setup_model.py b/src/featureforest/SAM/setup_model.py
index 172a505..1e33d9a 100644
--- a/src/featureforest/SAM/setup_model.py
+++ b/src/featureforest/SAM/setup_model.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import torch
 
+from ..utils.downloader import download_model
 from .models import MobileSAM
 
 
@@ -10,13 +11,17 @@ def setup_mobile_sam_model():
     print(f"running on {device}")
     # sam model (light hq sam)
     model = MobileSAM.setup_model().to(device)
-    # load weights
-    weights = torch.load(
-        Path(__file__).parent.joinpath(
-            "./models/weights/mobile_sam.pt"
-        ),
-        map_location=device
+    # download model's weights
+    model_url = "https://github.com/ChaoningZhang/MobileSAM/raw/master/weights/mobile_sam.pt"
+    model_file = download_model(
+        model_url=model_url,
+        model_name="mobile_sam.pt"
     )
+    if model_file is None:
+        raise ValueError(f"Could not download the model from {model_url}.")
+
+    # load weights
+    weights = torch.load(model_file, map_location=device)
     model.load_state_dict(weights, strict=True)
     model.eval()
 
diff --git a/src/featureforest/utils/downloader.py b/src/featureforest/utils/downloader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8388cbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/featureforest/utils/downloader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+import pooch
+
+
+MODELS_CACHE_DIR = Path.home().joinpath(".featureforest", "models")
+
+
+def download_model(
+    model_url: str, model_name: str,
+    cache_dir: Path = MODELS_CACHE_DIR, is_archived: bool = False
+) -> str:
+    """Download a model weights from a given url.
+
+    Args:
+        model_url (str): the model weights' url.
+        model_name (str): model's name that will be saved in cache.
+        cache_dir (Path, optional): download directory. Defaults to CACHE_DIR.
+        is_archived (bool, optional):   set to True to unzip the downloaded file.
+                                        Defaults to False.
+
+    Returns:
+        str: full path of the downloaded file.
+    """
+    try:
+        downloaded_file = pooch.retrieve(
+            url=model_url,
+            fname=model_name,
+            path=cache_dir,
+            known_hash=None,
+            processor=pooch.Unzip() if is_archived else None
+        )
+        # for zip files, get the file ending with "pt" or "pth" as model weights file.
+        if is_archived:
+            pytorch_files = [
+                f for f in downloaded_file
+                if Path(f).suffix in ["pt", "pth"]
+            ]
+            downloaded_file = pytorch_files[0] if len(pytorch_files) > 0 else None
+
+        return downloaded_file
+
+    except Exception as err:
+        print(f"\nError while downloading the model:\n{err}")
+        return None