Youtube offline video viewing now live

Youtube offline video viewing was a feature we’ve been hoping for for a long time now, and it’s finally starting to roll out. Even though it’s only available in a few countries like India, the Philippines and Indonesia. There’s no word on when Youtube offline video viewing will be available across the world, but we’re happy to see the fulfillment of the promise Google made in November 2013. This feature has been long overdue, but with Android One in India, it seems the incentive to introduce Youtube offline video viewing grew as much as to launch the new feature.

The goal of Youtube offline video viewing is to bypass the hurdles low-speed internet connections brings to video streaming across the globe, hence the Android One implementation’s primacy. The feature essentially means that users will be able to select a video quality to be cached on their phones and they will be able to watch Youtube videos offline in the following 48 hours. By allowing users to select the resolution of videos, Youtube offline video viewing will be made as efficient as possible, taking up less bandwidth and time.

Youtube offline video viewing doesn’t come in the form of an update, rather just a watch offline icon that will appear within the Youtube app. Mind you, this will only appear for users in the above mentioned regions where the new feature is now available. Android One is Google’s initiative of bringing good quality, affordable stock Android smartphones to developing countries and Youtube offline video viewing is part of that initiative. While we don’t know when or if the feature will be coming to other regions than India, the Philippines and Indonesia, we would definitely enjoy such a feature since there are issues with internet connections in other countries and states, too. An increased focus and concentration from Google has been noticeable towards India and other developing regions, where Chromecast has recently been introduced as well. We should see Youtube offline video viewing expand to other developing countries, too, if rumors are true, but we’ve no exact timeline for it yet. Rumors also say that Youtube offline video viewing should be made available for iOS devices, too, but we’ve no confirmation on that yet.