Google has released a new app called YouTube Go designed to make downloading and sharing online videos easier. The app is currently available under Google’s Early Access Program on the Play Store as a free download. This means you can access it only on Android devices, at present. Apps released under Early Access program allow users to try new apps early on while for developers it is a new way of identifying issues in the app before they can launch it for a wider audience. The app can be accessed in eight Indian languages — Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Malayalam.

How is different from the YouTube app

On first look, Go looks very similar to the primary YouTube app. Its Home Page shows videos in a vertical scroll and swiping towards right reveals other sections in the app. However, unlike the primary YouTube app, the video scroll is very small and swiping towards right shows only one section called Saved.

The Saved section shows all the videos downloaded/saved from the Home Page. In the primary YouTube app, the option to save online videos is limited. A user has to go through the options section in every video to see if it can be saved for offline access or not. YouTube Go makes things easier by only showing those videos which can be downloaded.

How it works

When you tap on video, a pop window will open showing a preview of the video, followed by option to download the video in Basic quality and Standard quality. Basic quality is a lower resolution version with smaller file size while the Standard quality shows the video in its originally uploaded resolution. The pop up also shows the space available on the device to keep the users regularly posted about their phone’s storage status. One can add videos to the download list even if the phone is offline. The download will resume automatically once the phone has internet access.

Sharing made easier

A new feature on the YouTube Go app which shows at the end of the Saved page is called Send and Receive. It allows users to send and receive their saved videos with other users in their vicinity . To make it work, the sender is required to tap on the Send button and the receiver has to tap on the Receive button. The two devices will create a private wireless network and the video file will be transferred from phone to another. This is very similar to the way ShareIt app works, with the only difference being that the video saved in YouTube Go can’t be accessed in the phone’s video player. It will only open within the YouTube Go app.

Is it worth a try?

YouTube Go is ideal for users who don’t have full time access to a WiFi network. The option to download a video in lower resolution and share with others without using up internet data allows user to save on their mobile data. Though the videos are regularly updated, user can access only ten videos in the Home page at any time. However, one can always search for random videos by tying the keyword in the search tab at the top of the page and all the videos which can be saved will show up by itself.

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