How to Download YouTube Videos to Your Phone
Want to watch YouTube videos offline on your smartphone? There are many ways to do this, but finding the right one can be a little confusing. Even YouTube’s official download methods vary from region to region, and third-party video download methods are constantly changing. Here’s how to download YouTube videos to your smartphone.
Should you download YouTube videos from third party sites?
Warning before proceeding: The official YouTube apps are the only reliable ways to download the videos you want. All other methods can stop working at any moment or be taken over by people who don’t care about your experience (or safety).
While we can confidently say that you won’t have any problems downloading videos if you use the YouTube apps, the same warranty does not apply to any third party sites or apps referenced in this article. However, a good rule of thumb is to expect pop-ups, NSFW ads, and unrelated tabs filled with ads to open when downloading YouTube videos from third-party sites.
The most reliable video download methods include using desktop applications such as the excellent 4K video downloader we previously recommended . However, we’re going to focus on ways to download YouTube videos using your smartphone.
How to Download YouTube Premium Videos
The best and most reliable way to download YouTube videos for offline watching is the official one. YouTube Premium is a subscription that also removes YouTube ads and gives you the ability to download videos. If these features are important to you, you can subscribe for $ 11.99 a month.
If you live outside of the US, you can download YouTube videos at no additional cost. Check out this list to find out where YouTube Premium free video downloads work. Even if you’re in these regions, it’s worth noting that you may still need YouTube Premium to download some videos that limit downloads.
To download a video using the official YouTube app, first open any video and click the Download button below the video title. YouTube will ask you about the quality of the download, so just select the quality you want and hit Download again to save it for offline viewing.
You can quickly check all your downloaded videos by going to the Library tab in the YouTube app and clicking Downloads .
How to Download YouTube Go Videos
In some regions, YouTube has released an app called YouTube Go that also lets you download videos. This app was specially created for affordable Android phones used in countries with poor connectivity or expensive cellular data plans.
YouTube Go also lets you download videos directly to your Android phone’s microSD card. You can check the functions of the application on Google Play (the link may not work on your device or in your region). Please remember that this is a stripped-down version of YouTube before downloading. You may not be able to watch live broadcasts and clips in high definition in this application.
How to Download YouTube Videos Using Apple Shortcuts (iPhone Only)
If you have an iPhone, you should download the Apple Shortcuts app – the Swiss army knife. The iPhone automation enthusiast community has made many great shortcuts and one of them is called JAYD, short for Just Another YouTube Downloader. Here’s how to download a video using this shortcut.
- Download shortcuts to your iPhone. To be able to launch third party (community created) shortcuts, you need to launch any shortcut once.
- If you’re not sure how to do this, open the app and go to the Gallery tab.
- Scroll down until you see different categories of shortcuts like Essentials .
- Click any shortcut here and select Add Shortcut .
- Now go to the My Shortcuts tab in the app and tap on the shortcut you just downloaded to launch it.
- After that, go to Settings> Shortcuts on your iPhone and turn on the Allow Untrusted Shortcuts option.
- You can now download JAYD from RoutineHub (third party shortcut gallery). Be sure to open the website on your iPhone and click Get Shortcut once on RoutineHub and again on the iCloud.com download page.
- The Shortcuts app will open, where you can scroll down and select Add untrusted shortcut . If you have the know-how, be sure to test the actions of the shortcut to make sure it’s safe.
- The final step in the setup involves downloading Scriptable, an application that allows JavaScript to run on the iPhone.
- After completing the setup, open the YouTube app on your iPhone and navigate to any video. Now click the Share button below the video title to open the list of apps you want to share. Scroll right and select More .
- This will open the shared sheet on your iPhone. Scroll down and select JAYD from the list. It will ask if you want to download video or just audio. You can choose Upload Video .
- You can save your video to your Camera Roll or Files app. Pick one and after launching the shortcut, the video will open for offline viewing.
JAYD will periodically ask for permission to access certain websites (to access videos), Scriptable (to complete the download process) and your photo gallery (to save videos). Just give him permission to access these things when he asks.
How to Download Videos with YouTube Online Downloader
The final option to download YouTube videos to your smartphone is to use an online video downloader. Web downloaders usually don’t have the full range of video download resolutions. You can often stop at low resolution videos for watching on the web, but it’s still better than nothing.
I tried several of them and liked the YouTubeVideoDownloader.site site. You can open the site, paste in the video url and hit the orange download button . The site will show you several video upload resolutions, but the only useful ones are the blue blocks with the camera icon . Tap any blue block to download video with sound.
Orange blocks contain video without audio, while green blocks allow you to download audio only.