A beta version of YouTube Go, an app for Android devices that allows you to save YouTube videos for offline viewing and sharing, is now available from APK download sites for devices running Google’s mobile operating system. Announced in September 2016, the app offers the ability to view and share YouTube videos without requiring a data connection.
Offline viewing of YouTube videos has been available in India since 2014 from within the YouTube app, but YouTube Go offers offline viewing as well as including a new video sharing feature. This now makes it possible to share YouTube videos between nearby devices using Bluetooth, in efforts to reduce data usage. However, in order to view a transferred video, an internet connection will be required for a 15KB security check once the video is received. Saved videos can only be viewed from within the app, and can be watched multiple times without using data.
As well as reducing data usage, YouTube Go also aims to use up as little storage as possible. The app itself only takes up 8.5MB of storage space, and users of the app are able to select the quality of the videos they download, as well as being informed how much storage the videos will take up. Thumbnails of videos can also be viewed before download. Videos can be downloaded to an SD card, or to a phone's internal storage, and can only be stored offline in standard or basic quality, and not in 720p or 1080p.
This early version of the app is available for download from sites such as APKmirror. YouTube Go can also be downloaded on the Play Store, for the limited number of users who are part of an early access scheme. The page does warn that the current version may be unstable, and Android Police reported issues when attempting to use the video sharing feature. A general launch is expected soon.
Source: Google Play Store, Android Police
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