On iOS, YouTube Premium will soon work with Apple SharePlay. There will be other new features for both iOS and Android.
Google has announced a very interesting feature for YouTube Premium users. Perhaps even the most anticipated feature, namely SharePlay support on iOS, shortly after the equivalent feature appeared on Android in Meet video calls.
On iOS, YouTube Premium will soon work with SharePlay
Mountain View explains that SharePlay iOS support will roll out “in the coming weeks”to YouTube Premium subscribers. Apple launched SharePlay in 2021 during Covid-19 restrictions to allow users to watch content together using Apple’s branded video calling service. YouTube is somewhat behind other video streaming services such as Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and many others that offer this SharePlay compatibility for months and sometimes even years. Netflix is perhaps the latest to stand in the way. Assuming YouTube SharePlay works like Google Meet Live Sharing,
There will also be other new features on iOS and Android.
Google is also adding a reading list system for mobile devices. Premium subscribers can now add new videos for later viewing – this has been possible since 2019 in the web version. The mobile version appeared late last year as a beta version in the “Try new features”section of the Android app.
There will also be improved 1080p streaming for YouTube Premium subscribers on iOS “in the next few weeks”. Google acknowledged that the feature was in testing last February after some users reported seeing the option. The latter offers a higher bitrate – so YouTube sends more data per second, allowing you to offer a better quality image. During the beta testing phase, Google stated that the quality of standard 1080p streaming would not be affected. In other words, the American giant will not reduce the quality of the video offered to free users to “encourage”subscriptions.
Premium subscribers on Android, iOS, and web will also soon see a new feature that makes it easy to continue your YouTube videos from where they left off on another device. In addition, the new Smart Downloads feature will automatically add recommended videos to your library (when connected to Wi-Fi) so you can watch them offline at any time. Of course, if you don’t want to waste your storage in this way, you can disable this option in the app’s settings.