Google’s YouTube GO app, which will let users in India download and share videos easily, is now available in beta on the Android Play store. The app is in beta version, and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
Google first announced this app for India in September, but YouTub has taken a while before making the app available to users. According to Google, they’ve taken their time with this due to “months of expanded testing and refinement.” YouTube Go is supposed to be the lighter version of the main YouTube app, giving users more control over data usage, and the ability to work even in situations where internet connectivity might not be the best.
YouTube GO’s features include:
● Home page which has recommendations, trending videos from your area shown to you when you open the app. This sounds similar to the landing page on the regular YouTube app, where videos you might have liked, channels you subscribe to, etc get more prominence on your home feed.
● Option to preview videos before you decide to watch them or save them for offline viewing. The app will show a preview of the video when you tap on a thumbnail, so you can decide whether this video is worth your data or not.
● Choose resolution when saving or streaming videos. However the maximum resolution on the app is 640p, so low-quality videos will be the norm here. You can’t save in HD or Full HD resolution (720p or 1080p). YouTube GO will also allow users to choose the amount of data they want to spend on a particular video.
● The ability to share videos with friends nearby is one of the cool new features of the YouTube Go app. Users will be able to share videos with their friend without using any data. The app relies on WiFi direct for this data transfer, and you’ll need to keep Bluetooth on to find friends via your phone. The videos will be shared straight from YouTube Go app, and of course, your friend will also need to have the app on their phone.
Google is hosting some events in Udaipur in the upcoming weeks to get more insights from users about the app. YouTube Go is only launching in India for now; the app will support English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Malayalam languages.