Updated at February 9, 2017:
Google has finally launched the YouTube Go app, which is currently in the beta stage. You can download the app directly from Google Play [play.google.com/YoutubeGo]. Once installed you can start downloading any videos, movies, TV shows, songs etc from YouTube and watch it offline or during slow internet connectivity. One added advantage is that you can download the videos to either phone memory (if you got a massive onboard storage like OnePlus 3T) or onto SD card.
- Choose between download or stream options, like the quality, MBs size etc.
- Share videos with friends and family using WiFi hotspot (no data connection required).
- Download videos to phone memory or SD card.
- Works on older Android versions back to Jellybean (Android 4.1).
Our original story from Tuesday, February 6, 2018, follows:
We may have the super-high speed 4G networks from Jio or the speedy 3G connection. Yet India is well known for its slow, unsteady internet connection. So with this slow internet connection and super budget-friendly smartphones mobile in hand, we love to explore the internet and especially videos.
Tapping the vast Indian YouTube users, Google India has launched a new YouTube app called the ‘YouTube Go‘. In simple the new app designed to be offline first, to work in slow connection, reduce data usage while downloading or streaming videos and bring social sharing experience.
Back in 2014, YouTube first launched its offline capability, which allowed your to download the videos for offline viewing. This was improved upon and recently the YouTube team launched the Smart Offline feature in partnership with many Indian telecom operators.
The YouTube Go app further improves this offline feature allowing users to choose the video resolution and data size to watch or save the video for offline viewing.
The new YouTube Go app is build to load and stream videos smoothly across any network connection, even if you are on dead slow 2G network. It also adds a social layer over the app, which allows you to share the downloaded videos with your friends and family.
YouTube Go features
- Video recommendation with revamped home screen, that shows trending and popular videos around you.
- Quick preview the videos before watching or saving them for offline viewing (tap on a thumbnail to trigger a quick preview of the video).
- Choose the video resolution and the amount of data usage before streaming or saving a video for offline viewing.
- Share saved offline videos with nearby friends over Bluetooth, without using any data.
So ready to try it out? the YouTube Go is gradually being roll out over the next few months. You can head over to YouTube Go web page and share your phone number or email address to get the app.