Google has today updated the YouTube app for iOS with its ‘send to TV’ functionality. This enables the app to send video out on an automatic connectionto TVs that support the open protocol. This update also allows you to send YouTube videos to Xbox and PS3 consoles, but they have to be manually paired.

YouTube for iOS also gets support for image recording and uploads by integrating with the YouTube Capture app. There are also improvements for streaming video over slow WiFi connections, something I’ve noticed issues with over the past couple of version.

The YouTube app for Android got the Send to TV feature back in November, allowing it to send video to Google TVs. That was then expanded with partnerships with Smart TV makers, allowing Android devices to send to any device that had integrated the function. This menas that there is no YouTube app necessary on the TV itself, all you need is a device with YouTube on it and the software support built in.

Now, the feature has come to iOS, meaning that just about any tablet or phone you own will be able to stream video to new smart TVs without any additional apps or software. The potential, of course, is to lower the viewing friction barrier that exists on many set-top boxes that integrate YouTube. If you’ve ever tried to watch a YouTube video on a Roku or Apple TV for instance, you’ll know that the discovery service is poor. Now, the YouTube app (or a shared link) is your ‘remote’ that allows you to pick and choose your videos.

This also means that, instead of relying on outside software in device that may be slow to update, YouTube gets to iterate its own app as quickly as it wants.

Google announced television partners that would integrate the feature at CES including Bang & Olufsen, LG, Panasonic and Sony. More Smart TV models supporting it from Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, Western Digital are expected to arrive this year.

YouTube for iOS

Image Credit:LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images

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