YouTube has announced that starting in Nov. users will be able to watch saved videos offline using its mobile apps. The company announced the news on Creators, a blog intended for the site’s partners and content creators, announcing that later this year YouTubers will be able to reach their fans even when they don’t have an Internet connection.
We don’t know exactly when the update will roll out, but when it does users will be able to save YouTube videos to their devices for up to 48 hours. The announcement comes after several third-party apps have attempted to offer a similar service and faced resistance from Google. McTube, for example, gained popularity for offering video caching, but was soon forced to remove its offline viewing feature.
YouTube previously offered a similar feature for Android, allowing users to pre-load videos, though you still needed an Internet connection to watch. Based on the company’s statement that the new update is coming to “YouTube’s mobile apps,” the implication is that the ability to watch offline will be available on both Android and iOS at the least, and could even show up on BlackBerry and Windows Phone.
