In September of last year, Google unveiled the new YouTube Go app that was meant to make the video-viewing experience much easier for users with unreliable and slow internet connections.
The app was part of Google's efforts to tap into India, considered as a major opportunity for online companies. Of the over 1 billion people living in the country, 800 million people reside in rural areas with limited internet connectivity.
Google Releases YouTube Go App Beta
Google has now silently released a beta version of the YouTube Go app on the Google Play Store, allowing users to try out the app before its final release to the public. It is listed as an unreleased app, and warns that it may be unstable.
According to the app's description on the Google Play Store, the app is a very light download, with its size only being 8.5 MB. YouTube Go will also allow users to control their data usage by allowing them to choose whether to stream or download a video upon accessing one. Users can also preview videos before watching or downloading them, and can even set the number of MB that they can spend on watching videos.
YouTube Go will allow users to download videos on the platform to their device's internal storage or SD card. Through the feature, users will be able to download videos while connected to a Wi-Fi network and then watch them whenever they want, without having to use up their data. The app will also allow users to share videos with their friends, with the transfer of videos using up no data despite sending them in mere seconds.
The YouTube Go app will even function on Android devices with operating systems as old as Android 4.1 Jellybean.
How The YouTube Go App Works
The YouTube Go app works very much like the regular YouTube app, but with the aforementioned features and improvements to cater to users who are often on limited internet connections.
When a video is selected, the app will ask if the user would like to stream it or download it. There will be two resolutions offered to users, namely basic quality that looks like 144p resolution and standard quality that is possibly 360p resolution. There is no 1080p or 720p resolution offered in the app, which is understandable given the purpose on why the app was made in the first place.
The video transfer will work through Bluetooth technology, so users can send videos that they download from the app to other users without tapping into their data. However, after the video is received, the YouTube Go app will need to connect to the internet so that it can perform a small 15kb security check on the transferred file.
Google Sets Sights On India
The YouTube Go app does not work for everyone, as the app is still only officially available for India. However, users are welcome to try it out through the Google Play Store.
Google has set its sights on India as it looks to lure new users to get online and use its expanding portfolio of products and services. This will allow Google to tap into the advertising revenue potential in India.
