It could seem to be a frightening task since Google doesn’t make it easy, but it surely is feasible to download YouTube videos to your iPhone or iPad for viewing any time — even once you’re offline. From YouTube’s own Premium subscription plan to third-party apps, there are several ways to avoid wasting your favorite YouTube videos to your iOS device. Whether you just want to look at videos without a web connection or keep some alternative picks for posterity, we’ll walk you thru among the easiest methods for downloading YouTube videos to your iPhone.
To be clear, downloading videos from YouTube using unofficial methods like third-party apps is a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service. That does not necessarily make it illegal — that is a murkier area — but it surely’s something that might get you banned from YouTube. Google doesn’t appear to care much about enforcing this on a person basis, especially for casual downloaders, but the corporate does occasionally play a cat-and-mouse game to attempt to hamper third-party apps which might be designed for this purpose.
While all of the third-party solutions described in this text work as of this writing, that is not guaranteed at all times to be the case. When searching for a third-party app to download YouTube videos to your iPhone, we recommend you are attempting to select one which’s well-rated and commonly maintained by its developer. This makes it more likely that you’re going to get quick fixes to remain ahead of any changes that Google makes to YouTube.
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How one can download YouTube videos with YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium is a subscription service that, amongst other things, allows you to download videos to your smartphone directly contained in the YouTube app. It will set you back around $12 monthly unless you qualify for the $7/month student plan. There’s also a family plan you possibly can share with as much as six members of your household for a single $23 monthly subscription — so long as they’re all members of your Google family group.
It’s probably the most seamless technique to download videos for offline viewing, and better of all, it’s Google-approved, so there aren’t any legal grey areas here. In fact, there’s a catch. For one thing, the utmost resolution you may give you the option to download within the YouTube iOS app is 1080p. Further, you do not really get to maintain those videos; the download feature in YouTube Premium is meant solely to allow you to download videos to look at when you’ve got little or no network connectivity, otherwise you’d reasonably not use costlier cellular data. You may’t save those videos outside of the YouTube app, they usually’re tied each to your YouTube Premium subscription and the unique content. Meaning those downloaded videos will go away in case you cancel YouTube Premium or if the unique video gets faraway from YouTube.
Still, if watching offline is your predominant reason for wanting to download YouTube videos to your iPhone, then YouTube Premium is the fastest and best technique to do that. Not only does it work right contained in the YouTube app on the push of a button, but you possibly can even make the most of YouTube’s Smart Downloads feature to maintain a cache of interesting videos ready for offline viewing.
In case you’ve never signed up before, you possibly can try YouTube Premium free for one month through the link below. You may as well enroll through the iOS YouTube app, but we do not recommend that as Google charges around 30% more on the App Store to account for Apple’s additional fees — a person subscription through the YouTube app costs $16, while you possibly can get the identical plan directly from Google for $12.
YouTube Premium
Step 1: Once you’ve got subscribed to YouTube Premium, open a video that you prefer to to download for offline viewing.
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Step 2: Select the Download button below the video. It would immediately begin downloading within the default resolution. A checkmark will appear once the video has finished downloading.
Step 3: To vary the resolution that downloaded videos are stored in, select your profile picture or icon within the top-right corner of the predominant screen of the YouTube app after which select Settings > Background & downloads > Download quality.
From this screen, you too can see how much storage your downloads are using and adjust other settings related to smart downloads.
How one can download YouTube videos using an iPhone or iPad app
If you desire to download YouTube videos in a more everlasting form, you will need to resort to third-party tools. A search of the App Store will turn up plenty of iPhone and iPad apps that may do that for you, but make sure you read the advantageous print; a lot of these are free to download but require in-app purchases or subscriptions to unlock their full capabilities.
One option that is value a glance is Offline. That is a wholly free app with no hidden costs. As a substitute, it’s frivolously ad-supported, and it isn’t only for YouTube videos. You need to use this to download from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud. Files may be saved and played right within the app, exported to iCloud, or transferred to your Mac via AirDrop.
Step 1: Download Offline from the App Store and open it.
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Step 2: Select the Browser button from the button bar at the underside.
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Step 3: Select YouTube to go to the YouTube home page or paste a link to a YouTube video within the address bar at the highest of the screen.
Step 4: Select a YouTube video that you prefer to to download.
Step 5: Select Download from the pop-up that appears to start downloading the video.
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Step 6: Select Downloads in the underside left corner to view a listing of your downloaded videos.
From here, you possibly can tap on the video to look at it within the app or use the usual iOS share sheet to avoid wasting it to your photo library, iCloud Drive, or some other app installed in your iPhone or iPad.
The most important catch here is that Offline only saves videos in a maximum resolution of 640×480. That is not bad for offline viewing on an iPhone, and you possibly can store numerous videos without taking on an excessive amount of space. Nevertheless, it isn’t ideal in case you want higher-quality videos to point out on a much bigger screen.
How one can download YouTube videos using a third-party app on a pc
In case you’re willing to depend on a Mac or PC to fetch YouTube videos for you, then you’ve got more options, as there’s a fair larger collection of apps, each free and paid, which you can use to download YouTube videos. Once you’ve got downloaded the video to your laptop or desktop, you possibly can transfer the videos to your iPhone or iPad via iCloud, AirDrop, or a third-party cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox.
While this is not strictly downloading to your iPhone, it’s still a superb technique to get downloaded videos onto your device, so we’ve included it here. Better of all, most of those apps are way more powerful and offer many more options than you will find within the iOS apps for downloading YouTube videos. This includes support for higher-resolution video formats.
We selected the free ClipGrab as one example, but any variety of downloaders and video converters will download YouTube videos to your desktop, and the next steps will work mostly the identical way.
Step 1: After downloading and launching ClipGrab, use the app’s search tab to enter keywords to assist you to find the videos you desire to save. Alternatively, you possibly can select the Downloads tab and paste within the link to a YouTube video directly out of your browser.
Step 2: Select an item from the outcomes and use the Format pulldown menu to convert it to MPEG4 format for compatibility along with your iPhone or iPad.
Step 3: Make your selection and select Grab This Clip.
Step 4: Select a reputation and destination for the saved video file. The video will likely be converted and downloaded to this location.
Step 5: In case you’re a Mac user, considered one of the quickest and easiest ways to transfer the resulting video to your iPhone or iPad is via AirDrop. Alternatively, iCloud Drive also works for Windows users, provided you’ve got iCloud for Windows installed. If a wireless transfer is not an option, you too can plug your device in using a USB cable and transfer files via the Finder app on macOS or iTunes on Windows.
How one can download YouTube videos by recording your screen
One other method is to easily record your iPhone or iPad screen and anything playing on it — including YouTube videos. So long as you are running iOS 11 or later (and you actually needs to be, because it was released in 2017), your iPhone and iPad have a built-in screen recording feature. It is a bit cumbersome as you’ve got to play your entire video in real-time, however the upside is that it’s free and simple to make use of.
Just do not forget that, because the name implies, a screen recording will capture every little thing that is happening in your screen — not only the YouTube video. So, in case you desire a clean recording, you may have to be careful to not do anything that may bring up on-screen controls, similar to tapping the screen and even adjusting the amount with the side buttons.
Step 1: Pull the video up on YouTube. You may do that within the Safari browser or the YouTube app.
Step 2: Position your iPhone or iPad in landscape orientation.
Step 3: Swipe down from the top-right corner to bring up the Control Center (on the iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and older models equipped with a house button, you will need to swipe up from the underside as an alternative).
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Step 4: From Control Center, select the Record button (a filled circle inside a circle)
Step 5: Swipe as much as dismiss the Control Center.
Step 6: After a three-second countdown, your device will begin recording whatever is on the screen. A red indicator will appear within the status bar or Dynamic Island to point that a recording is in progress.
Step 7: Begin playing your YouTube video. When finished, select the recording indicator within the status bar or Dynamic Island to stop recording or pull down the Control Center again and choose the Record button. The video will likely be saved to your Camera Roll.
Note that with this method, you are not likely downloading the video from YouTube but reasonably making a recording of it; it is the digital equivalent of pointing a video camera at your monitor. The resulting video file will likely be in the identical resolution as your iPhone screen, and it can include any black bars on the highest or the perimeters, in addition to your actions starting and stopping the screen recording session in the beginning and end. Nevertheless, you possibly can easily edit the video within the Photos app in case you’d prefer to trim out those parts.
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Simply because you possibly can, doesn’t mean it’s best to
Downloading a video from YouTube doesn’t seem to be an enormous deal at first glance, but it surely comes with ethical concerns to think about, depending on the unique post’s intent. As we have already mentioned, it’s something Google definitely doesn’t want you doing — it’s a transparent violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service, but it surely’s much more vital to maintain the unique content creators in mind.
Some people and firms post videos to share content, but others try to generate income. Videographers, for instance, often earn a cut of ad revenue. Ads playing before and after your videos and popping up at the underside of videos you’re watching could also be annoying, but that’s how content creators earn cash. In case you download videos to play offline, that video doesn’t earn ad income, so that you’re effectively taking money away from that content creator. The creator also loses out on multiple views from you because the audience.
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