YouTube Has Started Offering This Premium Feature for Free.
YouTube Premium is considered the “perfect” YouTube experience. While the service is perfectly usable for free, premium users get extra perks like no ads, free access to YouTube Music, and an ever-growing list of features . So it’s interesting to see YouTube experimenting with offering a free, premium-exclusive feature — or at least a stripped-down version of it.
As Techradar notes , some YouTube users see the ability to download videos in the app without paying for Premium. This has long been a benefit of Premium, and for good reason: offline playback is a great feature for those traveling without an active internet connection, such as on a plane or train with spotty internet, or for those who are watching their data usage. As such, it’s a strong incentive to subscribe to Premium for those who really need to watch videos whenever they want.
Techradar highlights this Reddit post where the author demonstrates the download feature in their YouTube iOS app. All users have a “Download” button when watching a video, but usually free users only see the option to upgrade to premium when they tap it. However, this user found that after accidentally tapping the “Download” button, they were prompted to download the video itself.
In the screenshot above, you can see that the app offers users the option to download videos in “Medium (360p)” or “Low (144p)” quality. I wouldn’t call 360p “Medium,” and 144p is what kids once called “potato quality,” so it’s far from ideal. This is where YouTube falls short, but it’s still ahead: just below those options, you’ll see options to download videos in “Full HD (1080p)” or “High (720p),” right under the YouTube Premium banner. YouTube conveniently reminds you: “For unlimited high-quality downloads, no ads, and no background playback, sign up for YouTube Premium.”
New feature allowing users to upload videos without premium (not the best quality) by u/Dude_Who_Does_Things on YouTube
In addition to these quality limitations, you won’t be able to download music videos for free. This is likely due to the royalty payments to artists, as YouTube will give people the option to listen to music without ads and premium subscriptions. Saving music videos to your iPhone will require payment.
I don’t have this feature yet, so it’s unclear how big this experiment might be. However, there are ways to download YouTube videos any way you want , without YouTube Premium, if you’re willing to bend the rules a little.