YouTube has quietly switched off a terrible Apple TV screensaver feature that would stop Apple’s own screensavers from playing.

At the beginning of May, YouTube updated its Apple TV app with a new feature that replaced the pause screen with terrible, pixelated photos. This change required users to press extra buttons on Apple’s Siri Remote to return to their videos. Now though, blogger Joe Steel has discovered that YouTube has disabled this feature, restoring the previous pause behavior. This change isn’t the type of update that was released through the App Store — instead, it looks to be a server-side update. This means that YouTube essentially sent an updated command to its Apple TV app so it could stop playing its screensavers automatically.

This change also seems to have been applied to versions of the app available on Smart TVs. iMore’s How To Editor, John-Anthony Disotto, noticed this change had been made to the YouTube app on his TV as well.

It’s a welcome fix to a feature no one asked for. Once again, you can now resume where you left off on all the best Apple TVs. In addition, you can make sure that Apple’s screensavers will now display when you want them to, thanks to the server-side change that removes the four-minute time limit before the YouTube screensaver would play.

•  TV deals: Walmart | Samsung | Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg  

The three best Apple TV screensavers you can choose right now

To celebrate YouTube’s reversal of its terrible screensaver feature, we wanted to showcase a couple of Apple’s own excellent screensavers that you can use on your Apple TV.

The flyover of Yosemite’s National Park in California is an amazing screensaver that you’ll find yourself captivated by — especially if you’re watching it on something like this Samsung 83-inch OLED TV. Another mesmerizing screensaver shows the light of Alaskan Jellyfish. The pulsating movement of the creatures is almost hypnotic, especially if you have a backlight accessory on your TV that reacts to the jellyfish moving across the screen.

Finally, a screensaver called ‘Hawaiian Valley Serenity’ is exactly as described. The blooming greenery, coupled with the flyover slowly bringing the ocean into view almost makes you feel like you’re slowly gliding between the hills.

It was baffling when YouTube introduced a feature that blocked Apple’s screensavers at the start of the month. Now though, you can enjoy them without worrying about YouTube’s pixelated alternative appearing on your Apple TV.

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You have, on your iPhone, approximately 4,837 ways of playing games. There’s Apple Arcade, there are some browser games, there’s the Xbox streaming app, the PlayStation streaming app, and Nvidia GeForce Now that you can access through Safari — the list, in fact, goes on. Now, however, there’s a new way to play games, and it’s through an app you probably already have installed on your best iPhone.

The YouTube app will now let you play “more than 75 games” “directly from YouTube”, including some returning classics like Angry Birds Showdown, Cut the Rope, and Trivia Crack. YouTube Playables, as it's called, is coming to both iOS and Android for all users of the app, and it sounds incredibly easy to access.

A library of free games

To get started, simply open the YouTube app, find the explore menu, and select the ‘Playables’ option. From there, you’ll find all 75 games that the platform has to offer, completely free. From our testing, there are no adverts that get in the way of gameplay, although that could change in the future — nothing, after all, is truly free.

Apart from some big-name titles, the rest of the lineup is fairly unremarkable, although YouTube says it's going to add more over time to make for a more compelling list. There are some gems to discover of course: In just a few seconds of scrolling, I’d quickly found some games perfect for killing time on the bus.

Considering most game platforms on iOS and Android want to charge you to play games, it’s refreshing to have a free one — and if YouTube manages to make the game selection even better, you could have one of the best ways to play games on your phone. It’s an extra bonus that it’s built into an app that you already have as well, so you don’t need to install anything new.

More from iMore

• Do you hate the new YouTube screensavers on Apple TV?
• How to add YouTube Music to your Sonos speaker
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YouTube recently brought out a new update to its Apple TV app which replaces the pause screen with terrible photos, requiring some extra button presses to get back to the video you were watching.

Imagine the scene — you’re on a lunch break, and you decide to watch a Shark Tank or Masterchef clip on YouTube. You need to take the dog out, so you pause it. Normally, you’d expect to go back and press Play on the Siri Remote. Instead, you’re now greeted with a landscape of badly compressed images — your impressive TV is suddenly wasted on those low-quality pictures. Sounds annoying doesn’t it?

Furthermore, the Back button has to be pressed on the Remote twice to make the current video appear again — which makes this feature even more annoying. It doesn’t stop there though. You can’t change when these images will appear — so you’re trapped with a four-minute time limit before the screensaver kicks in.

Worse still, this update also overrides the high-quality Apple TV screensavers if you stay in the YouTube app, even if you’re not playing a video. It’s a bizarre addition that doesn’t help the user experience at all. Fortunately, there’s a temporary fix to make sure you’re not greeted with pixelated landscapes — but we’re hoping that YouTube brings out another update soon that disables this fully.

How to get rid of pixelated landscapes and bring back the pause screen

Although there are no settings in the YouTube app to get rid of this new feature, there is another way and it works on all the best Apple TVs.

1. Open Settings on the Apple TV home screen
2. Select General, then Screensaver
3. Choose Start After, then 2 minutes

This way, Apple’s stunning screensavers appear before YouTube’s terrible alternative when you pause a video. It’s a relief, but it’d be great to see a further update from Google’s video app to disable its screensaver feature completely. 

For now, it’s a bad user experience, and we hope YouTube reverses course on this pixelated screensaver feature soon.

Apple has launched a new YouTube channel that features videos from its yearly developer conference, WWDC, as well as promising to upload all of its sessions from WWDC 2024 in June.

The channel features over 40 videos so far from WWDC 2023, with sessions for Maps, App Store distribution, Spatial Computing, and more. All of these videos have been arranged into separate playlists, so you can decide which topics you’d like to watch at any time.

In the past, sessions have been featured on Apple’s Developer site, as well as in its WWDC app once the sessions had been broadcast during WWDC week. For WWDC 2024, taking place from June 10, Apple will also publish these videos to its YouTube channel.

With Apple's Senior Vice President for Marketing, Greg Joswiak, describing the upcoming conference as ‘Absolutely Incredible’, in a hint to Artificial Intelligence, WWDC 2024 is going to be one to watch in June.

What can you watch right now?

If you’re someone thinking about developing an app for Apple’s devices, this new YouTube channel will be a great place to start, helping you learn some of the basics of app development.

There are plenty of videos to digest, but we’ve listed some of them below to help you get some inspiration:

• Perform Accessibility audits for your app
• Creating a great camera experience
• Building apps for Spatial Computing
• What’s new in UIKit (This helps to make an app look functional)
• Add SharePlay to your app
• What’s new in Core Motion
• What’s new in Swift (Apple’s Programming Language)
• What’s new in Wallet and Apple Pay
• What’s new in Safari extensions
• What’s new in Privacy

Apple is expecting iOS 18 to be one of the biggest upgrades in the history of its iPhone software, so the channel will likely be full of new videos in June from WWDC 2024, exploring how apps can take advantage of the rumored new Apple AI features. We recommend looking at these videos now, just so you can get some understanding of what’s involved in making an app in advance of the big new features landing.

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Apple Vision Pro will get an official YouTube app after all, despite the streaming company removing its iPad app functionality from the mixed-reality headset.

A spokesperson from YouTube reached out to The Verge to confirm that a YouTube app will be coming for Apple’s spatial computer — YouTube just doesn't have a timeframe for its release yet.

Spokesperson Jessica Gibby said in a statement, “We’re excited to see Vision Pro launch and we’re supporting it by ensuring YouTube users have a great experience in Safari. We do not have any specific plans to share at this time, but can confirm that a Vision Pro app is on our roadmap.”

This statement comes off the back of huge companies like YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify opting out of allowing the iPad apps of their platforms to run on visionOS — but it looks like YouTube might’ve had a change of heart.

YouTube on Vision Pro after all?

The Apple Vision Pro was released on February 2 and has taken social media by storm, with users wearing the headset out in public, on the subway, and even at basketball games. Currently, on the visionOS App Store, a YouTube app called Juno sits comfortably at number one on the paid-app rankings. That app was created by none other than Christian Selig, the incredible developer who is known for the Reddit app Apollo.

The early success of Vision Pro and the success of Juno will have shown YouTube that there is a market for a visionOS app of the platform.

With the confirmation that YouTube for Vision Pro is on the roadmap, we might see a U-turn from Netflix and Spotify as the companies see the benefit of bringing their platforms to visionOS. Currently, you can stream YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify through Safari — although users report it’s not the best experience.

More from iMore

• Hands-on: I've tried Apple's Vision Pro and these are the five things to be most excited about
• The Vision Pro reviews are in — a promising start, but there's still room for improvement
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If you were looking forward to using Apple Vision Pro with native YouTube and Spotify apps once the headset launches on February 2, we’ve got bad news for you.

According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, not only are these companies joining Netflix in not offering a Vision Pro app — but their iPad apps, which can easily be made to work on the headset, won’t be allowed on the platform either.

Instead, you’ll be asked to use Apple’s Safari web browser — completely missing the point of what a video app is capable of with Vision Pro. Other streaming apps, like Disney Plus, are confirmed for the headset and, in Disney's case, will take advantage of features like Environments. So, if you’d like to sit in Luke Skywalker’s speeder in Tatooine from Star Wars and watch a 3D movie via Disney Plus, you can.

However, when it comes to using YouTube, Spotify, or Netflix, you’ll have no choice but to type in each URL on Safari for Vision Pro.

A baffling decision by all — iMore’s take

Since September 2023, Apple has allowed developers to let their iPhone and iPad apps work on Vision Pro. It’s nothing more than ticking a box in Xcode, Apple’s developer platform for creating these apps, to enable this function.

For reasons known only to these three musketeers, the checkbox is something they’re not prepared to do.

In a time where these services have raised their subscription prices in order to, essentially, survive — the ease of simply downloading the apps to Vision Pro is not possible. That ease of use may be what could tempt users of these services to cancel their subscription with these three apps — especially when you’ll be able to access apps like Disney Plus on the headset.

Hopefully, all three will reverse course and click that checkbox for their iPad apps to work on Vision Pro. For now, though, if you decide to buy Apple’s headset, make sure that you’ve got these services bookmarked in Safari so you can easily access them in visionOS when the time comes.

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YouTube is generally one of the most popular apps in the App Store and it's easy to see why. The video streaming service is home to some of the most popular creators on the planet and Shorts has helped stem the tide of creatives moving to TikTok. But while the YouTube iPhone app is popular, there's one facet of it that you might not even know about. And if you did, you've probably forgotten that it ever existed. Now, it doesn't.

That facet is YouTube's iMessage app, a feature that was added years ago and brought some of the core YouTube video functionality to the Messages app on the iPhone and iPad. And while YouTube will probably never share details on how often that iMessage app was used, it's unlikely that it was a whole lot. Now, YouTube appears to have removed its iMessage app from the latest version of its iPhone and iPad app, and it's done so silently to boot.

That means that anyone who downloads YouTube from the App Store today or updates the version that's already installed, will not have access to the iMessage app. But whether or not that's a big deal is a matter for debate. The bigger question surrounds the iMessage App Store in general and whether we might see other apps remove support in the future, too.

The forgotten iMessage app

The loss of the YouTube iMessage app was first reported by 9to5Mac, although YouTube didn't make it obvious. While the latest version of the YouTube app removed the iMessage app, that isn't something that you would glean from the release notes. Instead, they simply share that the new update includes bug fixes and performance improvements.

That, of course, means we don't know whether YouTube removed its iMessage app on purpose or if this is nothing more than a bug — in which case it will likely reappear in a future update.

The YouTube iMessage app itself was one that brought enhanced functionality to the Messages app and allowed people to find and send videos as an iMessage without leaving the app first. It also meant that people could watch content using the native YouTube video player from within the Messages app as well. Those two features might not have been a huge draw for users, however. It has been around since the end of 2017, but again, usage numbers are unknown outside of YouTube and parent company Google.

The what store?

You wouldn't be alone reading this and wondering what the iMessage App Store actually is. If I'm being honest, I'd forgotten it was a thing as well. But it very much is, and Apple has its own webpage dedicated to it. It does a good job of describing the idea behind iMessage apps, saying that "with iMessage apps, you can collaborate with others in a conversation, decorate messages with stickers, share a song, and more — without leaving Messages."

In reality, you probably use these apps without realizing it. Photos, Apple Cash, and others found in the Messages app drawer are all apps of this ilk provided by Apple as a default. But whether or not you've added any of your own is another matter entirely. You can, of course, and it's likely that some of the apps you already use have installed iMessage apps without you realizing.

One app you won't find there is YouTube, but we'll find out soon enough whether that was by design or accident.

More from iMore

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YouTube is a streaming service that has historically been watched mainly on laptops, tablets, and phones. But that now appears to be changing.

It's now thought that 45% of all YouTuber viewership is now done on a TV, a change that will surely see YouTube and its ad partners change the way they think about the streaming service.

The new figure is a huge change, with less than 30% of YouTube watchers doing so on the big screen as recently as 2020. 

Must-watch content

This is all according to a new report by The Information which notes that this all coincides with advertisers choosing to pay more attention to YouTube than ever before.

"Those shifts explain why advertisers have stopped treating YouTube like a second-class citizen, which will become clearer this month at the start of the annual TV upfronts market, an event where advertisers and ad sellers begin negotiating their spending commitments for the next year," the report says. "Advertisers widely expect to allocate at least as many dollars to YouTube as on any individual TV company such as Disney and NBCUniversal, according to multiple senior ad-buying executives."

Once only available via a web browser on a computer, YouTube is now everywhere. There are apps for most smart TVs and then there are games consoles and streaming devices like the Apple TV 4K. There are tons of cheaper Apple TV alternatives out there that make getting YouTube onto a TV a cinch. And it's all being noticed by ad companies keen to put their money where the eyeballs are.

This all also comes at a time when YouTube is becoming more mainstream thanks to higher-quality content from top-notch creators. Gone are the days when YouTube was full of kids — it's now a huge business with MrBeast having spent millions of dollars on creating videos.

YouTube consumes hours of our daily lives with its easy-to-consume content and endless variety to cater to all hobbies and interests. YouTube Premium, its subscription service, brings enhanced features, such as removing ads within the content, iOS Shareplay, and the ability on iPhone to listen to audio with the app closed.

The caveat with YouTube Premium is that it costs $11.99 a month, nearly twice the price of Apple TV Plus, just to access extra features on the same content you’d consume anyway. One of the biggest reasons for subscribing to YouTube Premium on iOS is to listen to audio like podcasts and music in the background while using other applications or having your phone in your pocket. Luckily, there’s a way to do this without subscribing to YouTube Premium: Here’s how.

How to listen to YouTube in the background on iOS without YouTube Premium

1. Head to YouTube

Open Safari and go to youtube.com to find the video you want to play in the background. For this tutorial, I’ve chosen the 90s Lofi chillout playlist as I find it really helps with concentrating during work.

2. Request desktop site

Tap the aA button next to the URL bar in Safari and tap Request Desktop Website from the menu bar.

3. Play the video and lock your screen

Tap play to start your video playback. You’ll need to watch a couple of adverts before your video fully loads up. Once the video has started to play, lock your iPhone or swipe with your multitasking gesture to choose another application.

The video will pause, but you can then tap play and get all the benefits of background YouTube listening without forking out for a YouTube Premium subscription.

This hack works, but YouTube Premium is worth it

I’m a massive YouTube user. In fact, it’s probably my most used media application across all my devices, and an unfortunate part of what my doctor tells me is an unhealthy bedtime routine. I subscribe to YouTube Premium because it feels genuinely worth it for someone who uses the platform excessively. 

Yes, you can use this hack for audio listening in the background, but YouTube has held back several useful benefits behind the subscription paywall. Picture-in-picture is the first feature that springs to mind – and one that I use on my iPad daily. Additionally, YouTube Premium lets me download videos for offline play, which is very useful for transport, especially if your commute has terrible service. 

Last week, YouTube announced that iOS Shareplay was coming to the platform. As expected, it was another paywalled feature despite most iOS applications offering the ability to share media over FaceTime for free. I love YouTube Premium for streamlining my life, but I disagree with this constant paywall of basic features for the world’s most used streaming service. If adding another subscription to your monthly outgoings sounds ridiculous, try out this quick tip to get some of YouTube Premium’s features without the added price tag.

YouTube has started to roll out SharePlay on iOS compatibility for YouTube Premium subscribers. 

With a YouTube Premium subscription, you can now watch videos with your friends and family directly from FaceTime calls, similar to how it works for Apple TV.

SharePlay compatibility will arrive on iOS devices over the next few weeks alongside other long-anticipated YouTube features that haven't yet been available on iPhone and iPad. 

These features include an enhanced bitrate version of 1080p HD quality that allows for better details and motion, which should take advantage of the ProMotion displays on the iPhone 14 Pro. The better-quality videos are expected to launch in the coming weeks. 

iPhone users will also finally get a "Continue Watching" prompt when returning to the app after leaving during a video. This has been available on Android for some time and is an excellent addition to YouTube on iOS.

More YouTube features behind a paywall

As a YouTube Premium subscriber, these new additions sound like great features that I might regularly use, although it does leave free users feeling even more isolated.

Initially, I subscribed to YouTube Premium to remove adverts from the hundreds of YouTube videos I watch monthly, and it has been the best subscription I pay for that exact reason. 

That said, as a YouTube Premium subscriber, you sometimes don't realize what features are behind YouTube's paywall. One of those features is the ability to watch videos Picture-in-Picture on iOS, which most other apps allow you to do without paying a premium. Add on top background listening, and YouTube Premium is quickly becoming the only way to experience the streaming app properly.

By gatekeeping a basic iOS feature like SharePlay, YouTube is secluding its free users even further when it should be included for everyone. As a paid subscriber, these new features are exciting, but the app becomes even more distant for those who don't want to spend more money on streaming services. 

If you dislike YouTube Shorts as much as I have since they debuted back in September 2020, there's a new Safari Extension that can erase them when you're in Apple's web browser on a Mac.

I've never seen the point of YouTube Shorts. I go onto YouTube on my best Mac to watch certain channels in the early morning, or during my lunch break to catch up on Shark Tank and Dragons' Den videos - if I wanted to look at ten-second videos, I'd go on TikTok or look at Stories on Instagram for something similar.

Thankfully, Eat the Shorts is here. Created by Aaron Pearce, it's a Safari extension that will erase any mention of Shorts. You can grab it for a one-time purchase of $1.99 / £1.79 on the Mac App Store. Looks like I'm not alone in my distaste for YouTube Shorts.

Eat all of our shorts

Eat the Shorts is Mac only and solves a big issue for me. I'd love to see a way that Eat the Shorts can arrive on iOS and iPadOS when I'm in YouTube's app as well. At the moment, you can hide them for thirty days by pressing on the three dots above the section, but I'd like things to go even further.

Unfortunately, the Apple App store guidelines dictate how apps interact, and it means that extensions like this can be a lot more locked down on mobile platforms. That makes things like Eat the Shorts harder to get working on Safari on iOS and iPadOS. It's not impossible, but for a one-person team you can see why it might be out of reach for now.

Regardless, Eat the Shorts is already solving YouTube's biggest problem for me as I browse the site to look for background music as I work today, and for that one-time price, it's all I need.

NFL Sunday Ticket, the popular subscription service that allows fans to live stream every out-of-market NFL game, is officially coming to YouTube.

In a blog post, Google announced the partnership, which will bring the next season of NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league is " excited to bring NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels and usher in a new era of how fans across the United States watch and follow the NFL. For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans."

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, said that “YouTube has long been a home for football fans, whether they’re streaming live games, keeping up with their home team, or watching the best plays in highlights. Through this expanded partnership with the NFL, viewers will now also be able to experience the game they love in compelling and innovative ways through YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels. We’re excited to continue our work with the NFL to make YouTube a great place for sports lovers everywhere.”

Apple reportedly lost out due to pricing and VR

This is a major development for football fans, as it expands the reach of NFL Sunday Ticket beyond its traditional home on DIRECTV. Now, fans can watch their favorite teams from anywhere, as long as they have a YouTube account, a device with an internet connection, and access to YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels.

The addition of NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube marks a significant shift in the way that fans can access live sports. It's also a testament to the growing importance of streaming platforms in the world of sports media. Apple TV Plus made a similar partnership with Major League Soccer that will begin in 2023 and already has Friday Night Baseball with Major League Baseball.

Apple TV Plus reportedly lost the NFL Sunday Ticket deal due to a disagreement between the company and the NFL over the pricing and Apple's ambitions for the service within its rumored VR headset.

If you're having issues using YouTube on your iPhone right now, you are definitely not alone.

This afternoon, a number of iPhone users reported having problems with the YouTube app on iOS. Those who are affected by the problem are finding that, within a minute of opening the YouTube app, it will close and crash. Restarting the app, or even swiping up to close it completely and starting over, does not appear to fix the issue.

YouTube is aware of and has acknowledged the issue. On Twitter, the company said "hi, we're aware that many of you using the YouTube app on iOS devices may be experiencing crashes we're so sorry about this & have begun working on a fix! updates soon."

The company did not specify exactly how soon "soon" means.

You're not safe on the Apple TV either

If you're thinking you'll just avoid the iPhone app and watch YouTube on your television you might not be safe either. According to a report by 9to5Google, users on Apple TV have been experiencing similar problems that are currently plaguing iPhone users.

Even YouTube Music may be affected with the report mentioning that "there are also reports of the Apple TV client, as well as YouTube Music, crashing in a similar manner."

The one thing you can do while the company is working to fix the issue is to watch YouTube through the browser. That is still working just fine on iOS, so fire up Safari and enjoy watching funny cat videos the old way.

In the same vein, there have not been reports of users having an issue watching YouTube on the iPad or Mac, whether that be through the iPad app or a browser on the Mac. So, you still have plenty of avenues to watch the popular video service in the meantime.

This is a developing story and we will update as soon as we hear more information...

YouTube is the place to go to watch video content from independent creators and huge media companies alike, but it's all about streaming. Watching YouTube videos is easy if you have the internet, but you're going to need to plan ahead if you want to go off the web-connected grid and keep watching. Thankfully, you can download YouTube videos to a Mac to be watched offline.

You might already know that you can download YouTube videos on your iPhone and iPad, perfect for those times when you might want to entertain a kid in the air or on a long journey. But you can also download videos on your Mac as well if a mobile device isn't handy, perfect for those times when you want to make sure you have access even without Wi-Fi. And it's a particularly good idea if you have to deal with data caps, too, or want a larger-screen viewing experience.

Downloading YouTube videos to watch offline on a Mac is easy and we're going to show you exactly how to do it.

YouTube Premium

If you want to download YouTube videos on your Mac, you're going to need to have YouTube Premium to do it. There are other ways and means of downloading YouTube videos, but they all have their problems — not least the fact that it's against  YouTube's rules.

We're going to show you the official way to download videos for offline viewing, so you'll need YouTube Premium which starts at $11.99 per month. That not only gives you access to downloads but also the ability to watch your content ad-free across all devices, too.

To add a further wrinkle to proceedings, you're going to need to use Google Chrome, too. The download feature is only available via Chrome, so Safari users are out of luck. Thankfully, Chrome is one of the best Mac web browsers around — maybe give it a try for all your other stuff, too.

Downloading YouTube videos on your Mac

1. Open the YouTube website in Chrome and find the video that you want to download for offline viewing. May sure that you're signed in, too, and have your Premium account active.

2. Click the Download button beneath the video you want to download.

How to watch downloaded YouTube videos

1. Open the YouTube website in Chrome on your Mac.

2. Click the menu button on the left side of the screen and click Downloads. You'll find your offline videos ready to be watched there.

Now that you know how to download and watch YouTube videos you'll never find yourself without entertainment the next time your airplane's Wi-Fi isn't working.

Want to delete a downloaded video? Just click the Download button again and it'll be gone for good. Or until you download it again, that is.

Compared to other streaming services, learning how to download YouTube videos to your iPhone isn't as straightforward a process as it could be. If you've ever used Netflix, Disney Plus, watched an Apple TV Plus show, or kicked back with any of the popular streaming services, you've likely come across a scenario where you've wanted to watch content from the service offline, and it's been a relatively simple exercise.

Whether it be a plane, train, or other automobile, we've all ended up in a scenario where enjoying our favorite television shows and movies needed to happen without the benefit of a WiFi or cellular connection. Thankfully, most of the streaming services offer the option to download at least some titles on their platform for offline viewing.

But what about YouTube? What if I want to watch MKBHD, Rene Ritchie, or iJustine when I'm on a plane? Well, YouTube also lets users download videos from the platform for offline viewing. However, it is reserved to a subset of users.

Download videos with YouTube Premium 

Right now, you need to be a YouTube Premium subscriber in order to download videos responsibly from the video service to your iPhone as YouTube says that downloading videos otherwise is a violation of their terms of service. 

YouTube Premium currently costs $11.99 per month or $22.99 for YouTube Premium for families which allows you to share your Premium membership with up to five members of the same household.

If you sign up for YouTube Premium or are an existing member, you're ready to download a video from YouTube. Keep in mind that downloaded videos stay within the YouTube app, just like Netflix and other streaming services. So, don't uninstall the YouTube app before hopping on the plane or you'll delete all of the videos you just downloaded. Not that anyone uninstalls YouTube anyway. 

How to download YouTube videos to your iPhone

1. Open the YouTube app on iOS.

2. Find and tap on the video that you want to download.

3. Tap on the Download button in the menu underneath the video.

How to find your downloaded videos

1. Tap on the Library section in the bottom menu.

2. Your downloaded videos will be located in the Downloads section.

YouTube, just like the other streaming services, has made downloading and enjoying videos offline a breeze – even if it's not immediately obvious exactly who can do so. If you're about to head out on vacation and want to enjoy your favorite YouTubers on the plane, YouTube Premium is a no brainer so you can watch videos wherever, even without a WiFi or cellular connection.

YouTube's next big move to take on TikTok is to make it your go-to video service on TV.

In a blog post on the company's website, YouTube announced that it is completely revamping the YouTube Shorts experience on television. While YouTube Shorts have technically been able to be viewed on its TV app, it's been an admittedly half-assed experience as it's followed the same user experience as regular YouTube videos which are primarily shown in landscape mode.

With the new redesign, the company is trying to make watching YouTube Shorts on the television feel more natural with a native experience designed for the TV.

TV is YouTube Shorts' fastest growing device

Neal Mohan, YouTube's Chief Product Officer, said that the television is actually the fastest-growing surface for people who are watching YouTube Shorts. The executive said that "bringing Shorts to our community has transformed the way people create and watch video on YouTube. When we introduced this new format, we optimized the experience for the mobile creator and viewer. Today, we’re expanding viewing access to Shorts to our fastest growing surface: the TV screen. While this may seem like a natural next step, an incredible amount of thought and care has gone into bringing this vertical, mobile-first experience to the big screen."

You can check out the new design for YouTube Shorts on the TV below:

While the company had prototyped a maximal design at first, they said that "we simplified the design of the right side rail, but will be looking to bring in additional functionality in future releases."

The YouTube Shorts redesign for the TV app has started to roll out today. YouTube says that "over the coming weeks, this experience will be rolling out on TV models (2019 and later) and on newer game consoles."

If you have YouTube Premium for your family, get ready to pay a lot more.

In an email to YouTube Premium family customers, the company announced that it is raising the price of its plan. The email, which was obtained by 9to5Google, says that, in order to "continue delivering great service and features," YouTube is increasing the price of the plan from $17.99 per month to $22.99 per month.

We created YouTube Premium to provide an uninterrupted YouTube experience, so you can get closer to the videos, creators, and music artists that you love. To continue delivering great service and features, we will be increasing your Premium family plan price from $17.99/month to $22.99/month.

Thankfully, customers have a month to prepare for the price increase. The company says that the price change won't take effect until your next billing cycle that begins on or after November 21:

This change will take place on your next billing cycle starting on or after November 21, 2022. To check the status of your account and billing information, go to your Settings > Purchases and Memberships page. All members have the flexibility to pause or cancel anytime here.

Non-family plans are safe...for now

That's a pretty massive price increase for the YouTube Premium family plan. A jump from $17.99 per month to $22.99 per month represents more than a 27% increase in the price for the same service, as YouTube did not add any additional features or benefits.

Things get even worse if you sign up for a YouTube Premium family plan through Apple's App Store. Google passes the cost of Apple's tax on apps and services sold through its store to customers so a family plan will now cost a whopping $29.99 per month.

Thankfully, the company is not increasing the price of the non-family YouTube Premium plan. That plan will remain, for now, at $11.99 per month.

If you’re a fan of firing up 4K YouTube videos on your iPhone or big 4K TV screen, you may need to start dipping into your piggy-bank. A new feature-testing phase is locking the ability to stream 4K videos behind a subscription paywall.

Numerous viewers are reporting that the ability to choose the higher-quality 2160p / 4K streaming options for video content supporting the ultra-HD resolution is being prevented by a prompt to “Tap to upgrade” to YouTube’s premium offering.

Following confusion and complaints, YouTube has responded on Twitter, confirming that the restrictions are part of a test to explore the feature preferences of its potential Premium subscriber base. Viewers were urged to leave feedback on the test.

Premium vs free YouTube

By far the most popular video platform in the western world, YouTube has 2.1 billion active monthly users as of August 2022 — but only an estimated 50 million of those pay for the Premium and Music subscription options, which currently offers ad-free viewing, in-app content downloads, and background music play when the app is not active. In the US, YouTube Premium subscriptions cost $11.99 a month.

But despite the vast numbers — and an overt advertising push that has seen as many as ten unskippable ads play before videos during some testing phases — parent company Google’s profits are feeling the pinch of the current economic climate as much as everyone else.

Whether or not a 4K paywall will prove itself a permanent change in YouTube’s viewing behavior remains to be seen. Will content creators, for instance, bother to work in the higher resolution format, knowing that only a fraction of potential users will see it, or prefer to work in the lower resolution realms with wider viewership and faster processing times? It’ll be a tough sell for YouTube either way — give something to someone consistently for free, and it’s much more difficult to get them to pay later. 

If you want someone to remind you so you don't miss the Apple Event in September, Youtube is on the way.

Today, Apple announced that it will host a special event at Apple Park on Wednesday, Sept. 7. The event will kick off at the customary time of 10 a.m. PT.

To ensure you don't miss the event when it goes live, the company has already posted a placeholder video on YouTube so that viewers can sign up to be reminded when the event begins. As posted in the description of the video, if you sign up for a reminder, you can get an email and push notification before the event begins.

You can check out the placeholder video and sign up to be reminded when Apple's "Far" event goes live on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. PST below:

What will Apple announce at the event?

There are a lot of rumors surrounding Apple's September event. The first is an obvious one: the iPhone 14. Apple is expected to drop the iPhone mini in favor of a more affordable iPhone 14 Max, a completely new addition to the iPhone lineup. The iPhone 14 Pro models are expected to feature a new processor as well as some major upgrades to the camera system.

Apple is also anticpated to announce the Apple Watch Series 8 as well as the second generation of the Apple Watch SE. An Apple Watch Pro is also heavily rumored to be unveiled at the event that will go head to head with Garmin's watches. There are also rumors that the company could introduce the AirPods Pro 2 at the September event.

If you want to go all in, check out our coverage of everything we expect at Apple's event in September. The Twitter hashflag for the event and the usual AR experience is also now live to check out and enjoy!

YouTube is going to start adding a watermark to YouTube Shorts to make sure that everyone knows where the videos came from, even when they have been posted to other apps like TikTok and Instagram.

The move, first reported by TechCrunch, comes after a support thread outed plans to add a watermark to downloaded content. If you aren't seeing the watermark just yet, hang fire — Google says that it will take a few weeks to roll out on desktop and that it will also be brought to mobile "over the coming months.

Marked up

To be clear, YouTube isn't specifically saying that people shouldn't share content on other apps, but it does say that it wants everyone to know where that content originated.

"If you’re a creator who downloads your Shorts from YouTube Studio to share across other platforms, you’ll now find a watermark added to your downloaded content," the support document says. "We’ve added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you’re sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts. This is rolling out over the next few weeks on desktop, and we plan to expand to mobile over the coming months."

YouTube isn't alone in adding a watermark to videos created using its tools, however. TikTok has done something similar for years which is why YouTube Shorts and Instagram are full of videos that have the famous TikTok logo on them somewhere. In the future, we're likely to see the YouTube logo pop up more and more, too.

While this will likely mainly impact people ripping other people's content and posting it as their own, those who originally created the videos might need to consider using third-party apps in the future. Whereas many videos are now recorded using tools built into social networking apps, the only way to avoid the watermark is to create videos elsewhere and upload them individually.

Rene Ritchie, the former Editor-in-Chief of iMore, has been hired by Google to be YouTube's new Creator Liaison.

Ritchie, who went independent and built his own Apple-focused YouTube channel for the last two years, previously held many roles in the technology and media industry. As he explains, he "worked in product marketing and tech media, [and] posted his first video in 2008." He took to Twitter (and YouTube of course) to make the official announcement. 

What does a YouTube Creator Liaison do?

According to Ritchie, his role at Google as YouTube Liaison entails advocating for...well, YouTubers! He clarifies that. while he will not be handling individual creator support, he will work to serve as a voice for creators within the company itself, advocating for their wants and needs from YouTube.

In addition, Ritchie says that he will also be "helping creators to better understand how YouTube works, educating, empowering, and most of all, listening."

Ritchie isn't the first person from iMore to join one of the major technology companies. Serenity Caldwell and Lory Gil, both formerly iMore, eventually joined Apple to help run the Apple Developer and Apple Support programs.

You can watch Ritchie's announcement video, which features a number of other YouTube creators like MrBeast, MKBHD, iJustine, Jenna Ezarik, Thomas Frank, and more. Check it out below:

Ritchie says that his role at Google is in addition, not a replacement, to his own YouTube channel. The creator says that he will continue to work on this channel as well — something all of us in the Apple community are sure to be grateful for.

It's always great to see a former member of team iMore make an impact on the technology industry from within, and Ritchie is certainly one we can all trust to do just that.

From all of us at iMore, congratulations Rene!

What you need to know

• YouTube is rolling out support for picture-in-picture.
• In the United States, picuture-in-picture support will be available for all users.
• It will only be available for Premium users internationally.

YouTube has been playing footsie with picture-in-picture support on iOS for years and, after a long and confusing road, it's finally rolling out...for some of us.

Today, the company announced that picture-in-picture support is "slowly" rolling out for the YouTube app on the iPhone and iPad. According to the announcement, the feature will be available for all users in the United States, except for music videos. That means that you'll need a Premium subscription in the United States if you want to use picture-in-picture for music on the app.

Unfortunately, the feature will still be limited to Premium users in all other countries outside of the United States. If you choose to upgrade to YouTube Premium in the United States, you'll also be able to use picture-in-picture with music.

Google says that the feature will require an iPhone or iPad running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 or later. That makes sense as Apple first introduced picture-in-picture support with those versions of its software.

There isn't a way to manually update to get picture-in-picture support so just keep an eye out as, at some point, it's just going to start working!

What you need to know

• Apple's Escape from the Office ad proved popular on YouTube.
• YouTube has shared the ten most popular ads over the last year.
• A Samsung Galaxy Unpacked ad was top of the pile.

Apple's famous Escape from the Office ad, part of its Apple at Work series, was one of the most popular ads on all of YouTube the company has confirmed. YouTube shared the top-ten ads from the last year, with Apple sitting in eighth place.

As part of Cannes Lions 2022, YouTube shared a list of the most popular ads since last year's festival, with a Samsung Unpacked trailer from August 2021 sitting pretty in the top spot. It was followed by two ads from Switzerland; one for the country itself, and another for watch brand OMEGA.

Other notable entries were the trailer for Netflix smash-hit Squid Game as well as Chevrolet's ad for the first-ever all-electric Silverado. Other entrants include Nissan, Amazon, and Turkish Airlines.

The full rundown of winners reads:

1. Galaxy Unpacked August 2021: Official Trailer | Samsung
2. No one upstages the Grand Tour of Switzerland | MySwitzerland
3. Timekeeping and tradition: OMEGA meets Japan | OMEGA
4. Amazon's Big Game Commercial: Mind Reader | Amazon
5. Squid Game — Official Trailer | Netflix
6. Pangea — Official Film | Turkish Airlines
7. Nissan Presents: Thrill Driver | Nissan
8. Escape from the Office — Apple at Work | Apple
9. Feel the Rhythm of Korea — SEOUL2 | Imagine your Korea
10. The First-Ever All-Electric Chevy Silverado – New Generation (The Sopranos) | Chevrolet

You can see all of the videos on YouTube's website, too.

The Apple at Work series follows the same group of people as they use Apple devices and services to get the job done. In this instance, it was to escape their horrible boss and set up shop on their own, with iPads, iPhones, and more helping the group achieve their goals. We get to see the latest MacBook Pro and even Siri pitching in along the way.

What you need to know

• YouTube says it now has 1.5 billion monthly Shorts viewers.
• Shorts is the platform's answer to the success of TikTok.
• The company says that longer-form content remains the best way to engage with viewers.

YouTube has today announced that it has 1.5 billion monthly logged-in listeners for its TikTok rival Shorts.

As reported by TechCrunch:

As the report notes, TikTok is aiming for the same milestone this year, possibly indicating YouTube may have surpassed the short-form sensation.

Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube's Vice President of the Americas said that long-form content "remains the best way for creators to deeply engage and develop long-term relationships with their audiences" but that Shorts offered "an exciting, new way to be a part of a viewer's journey and to introduce themselves and their whole portfolio to new audiences."

YouTube offered some select case studies of proof that combining short and long-form content was key to growth rather than just one or the other:

Shorts and platforms like TikTok have rocketed to popularity on devices like the iPhone 13 and Apple's other best iPhones because of their short, snappy, and engaging formats and endless scrolling, combined with algorithms that can serve up more relevant content to most users.

As the report notes, interestingly, TikTok is trying to move in the other direction toward YouTube's longer-form content, and now allows users to create 10-minute vides on the platform. Instagram has also tried to muscle in on TikTok's success with its own Reels feature.

What you need to know

• YouTube now lets you use an iPhone or iPad to leave comments on videos via the company's TV app.
• Devices don't need to be connected to the same network as the TV, they just need to be signed into the same account.

Using your TV remote to control the YouTube interface is pretty crappy but now you can use your iPhone to do it instead. The move means that iPhones — and iPads — can even be used to leave comments on videos and more.

The system is a clever one and works when you have YouTube open on your TV and then open the app on your device. You'll be prompted to connect the two together — and they don't even need to be connected to the same network. It's using Google magic and your YouTube account to get things working, see.

The Verge reports:

Being able to use your phone to enter comments is a biggie, but just being able to do things like subscribing to channels without fighting with a cumbersome TV remote is a win. YouTube says that the feature is rolling out now although it's to be noted that TVs, streaming boxes, and sticks will need to be running the latest version of the YouTube app for any of this to work — something that might not be a given depending on your hardware.

What you need to know

• YouTube has added a new 'Most Replayed' feature.
• The most replayed sections of videos will be highlighted by a graph overlayed on the video's timeline.
• The feature was previously available in beta but is now rolling out to everyone.

YouTube is making it easier for people to see which parts of a video are most popular by highlighting the sections that were "most replayed" by other users. Those sections will appear as a spike on a graph that will be overlayed on the video's timeline.

"If the graph is high, then that part of the video has been replayed often. You can use the graph to quickly find and watch those moments," Google says. Scrubbing through a timeline to find the sections where the graph peaks should theoretically show you which parts were most popular because they were the most replayed. But it's also possible they could be the most confusing or difficult to understand — a presenter mumbling a word could, theoretically, create become the most replayed section of a video, for example.

As The Verge points out, it will be interesting to see how this kind of information is used by creators and not just the people who watch the videos they make. The new feature could help inform future videos by showing creators which sections were replayed the most, giving them another indicator as to what works and what doesn't.

YouTube has long been the best iPhone video-watching experience in terms of the sheer amount of content on offer and this new feature will be available on mobile as well as the desktop. It's actually a feature that has been available in beta form for a while, but it's rolling out to everyone today and you can probably see it in at least some videos right now.

What you need to know

• YouTube says everyone is going to get picture-in-picture support within days.
• Picture-in-picture support was previously only available as an experimental feature.
• YouTube's experimental feature came to a close this past weekend.

Update, April 11 (7:20 AM ET): YouTube has backtracked on its promise that picture-in-picture support would be coming to all iOS users "in a matter of days."

YouTube's picture-in-picture testing phase ended this past weekend but don't worry, the outfit says that everyone will be able to enjoy the future "in a matter of days."

YouTube ended its picture-in-picture experiment just days ago with no word on what was going to come next. Those who already had the feature enabled found that they could still use it without issue, but those who didn't were no longer able to flick the switch that would bring picture-in-picture support to their account. Now, though, it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel after YouTube responded to one Twitter question to say that the feature is still coming — and within days for all iOS 15 users.

That's excellent news, of course, and it also appears to suggest that the picture-in-picture feature will be available to everyone worldwide, too. The person asking the question is located in India and while there had been some confusion as to whether picture-in-picture support would be a US-only thing, this tweet would suggest that won't be the case at all.

Being able to watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode is one of the best iPhone and iPad features we could have hoped for, especially for those who want to be able to watch content while doing other things. Now, we wait for YouTube to enable picture-in-picture support for everyone, everywhere. Assuming this tweet is accurate, that is.

Update, April 11 (7:20 am ET) — YouTube has backtracked on its promise that picture-in-picture support would be coming to all iOS users "in a matter of days."

After promising that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to all iOS users "in a matter of days," YouTube is now walking back that statement. The company said that it mispoke and actually was talking about the YouTube TV app when it mentioned picture-in-picture support on iOS.

The company did not say when (or if) support for picture-in-picture would be coming to iPhone and iPad users for non-Premium users.

What you need to know

• YouTube has officially ended the testing of its picture-in-picture feature on the iPhone and iPad.
• Picture-in-picture was available as an experimental feature for YouTube Premium subscribers.
• The feature is no longer available for new testers or any non-Premium users.

Who knows how long we are all going to have to wait for picture-in-picture support for the YouTube app.

As reported by 9to5Google, YouTube has officially ended its testing for picture-in-picture support on the iPhone and iPad. It had been available to YouTube Premium subscribers as an experimental feature for almost a year now but, as of this weekend, it is no longer available to any users of the app looking to enable it.

While Google has been notifying would-be users that "the feature you're trying has been turned off," it is apparently still working for YouTube Premium subscribers who already had the feature turned on before Google shut it down.

I personally enabled the experimental picture-in-picture feature as a YouTube Premium subscriber months ago and can confirm that the feature still works per the above report.

Google has already said that it plans to formally roll out picture-in-picture support to YouTube Premium subscribers as a perk. It also plans to make the feature available to all YouTube users, Premium or not, in the United States. The company has not yet stated when the roll-out will actually happen, however.

YouTube has some catching up to do. Picture-in-picture has quickly become an expected feature for video apps on the iPhone and iPad since Apple rolled it out with iOS 14 a couple of years ago. Even the YouTube TV app added support for the feature at the end of March.

What you need to know

• YouTube has paused all monetization of its platform in Russia.
• YouTube has removed the RT and Sputnik news channels globally after previously removing them in Europe.
• More than 1,000 channels and 15,000 videos have been removed for violating YouTube's hate speech policy relating to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

YouTube has announced that it has paused all monetization in Russia while also blocking RT and Sputnik's channels worldwide.

The move, which was announced via Twitter, comes after YouTube previously blocked the Kremlin-backed channels in Europe. Now, they're blocked everywhere. YouTube also says that its "Community Guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events." As of now, content describing Russia's invasion of Ukraine that violates that policy is being removed.

YouTube also confirmed that it has now removed more than 1,000 channels and over 15,000 videos for "violating not only our hate speech policy, but also our policies around misinformation, graphic content and more."

YouTube had already paused ads in Russia but the company today confirmed that "all of the ways to monetize" its platform have now been ceased in Russia, although the door appears to be open for that to be backtracked in the future.

Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine amid ongoing sanctions. Reports say that the App Store and iTunes purchases have been "turned off" in the country, and Apple already stopped selling its products in the country.

Inside Russia, the country has sought to ban Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook from being used by its people — likely in an attempt to closely control the news that is being consumed.

What you need to know

• Google Europe has announced that it has blocked access to two Russian news channels on YouTube.
• RT and Sputnik are now no longer available on YouTube.
• The ban covers European countries.

Google has announced the blocking of two YouTube channels belonging to news organizations heavily linked to the Kremlin, the company has announced.

The move, which was announced via Twitter and only applies to European countries, means that neither RT nor Sputnik now has an official YouTube presence in the continent. Searching for the channels in the UK does show them and their channel logo, but clicking through gives you an error suggesting that the channel cannot be viewed in your country.

Google made the announcement by saying that it "might take time for our systems to fully ramp up," although tests in the UK showed the two channels disappear almost immediately.

Google Europe's statement reads:

The move comes as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine and media companies around the world wrestle with disinformation. Both RT and Sputnik are said to have close ties to President Putin and the Kremlin and it's thought that neither are impartial. Rather, the two channels are thought to spread disinformation and propaganda for Moscow.

There is currently no suggestion that the two channels could return to the YouTube platform or whether they could be blocked on other continents in the future.

What you need to know

• YouTube has again extended the timeframe for its Picture in Picture testing.
• The current testing window ends on March 14.
• YouTube now allows people to put the comments beside the playing video on the desktop.

YouTube has once again extended the time period in which people can test picture-in-picture (PiP) mode on iPhones and iPads.

Having originally set a deadline of the end of October for its testing, YouTube has been extending that timeframe ever since. The latest window now ends on March 14 which means people still have a month to test things out. Anyone who has yet to try YouTube PiP on an iPhone or iPad can head to https://www.youtube.com/new to flick the required switch.

How to use: While you are watching a video, swipe up (or press home) to close the app and watch in a miniplayer.

Note:

• Locking the screen while watching in PiP will pause the video. You can resume the video using the lock screen media controls.
• When you're trying this feature for the first time, it may not work properly for the first hour. If PiP doesn't work after the first hour, try uninstalling and reinstalling the YouTube app.

YouTube has been testing the ability to use PiP on iPhones and iPads for some time, although you'll need to be a Premium subscriber no matter what part of the world you're in. Those in the United States will be able to use PiP without a Premium subscription eventually, too.

YouTube is also now testing a change that will allow peoople to read comments next to a playing video when watching on the web, too. Head to https://www.youtube.com/new if you want to enable that particular feature in your web browser on a Mac, for example.

What you need to know

• YouTube has extended picture-in-picture support for the iPhone.
• It is currently an experimental feature only available to YouTube Premium subscribers.
• YouTube currently plans to end the experimental feature on February 14.

The future of picture-in-picture support for YouTube on the iPhone is unclear.

As spotted by MacRumors, YouTube has extended support for the experimental feature until February 14. YouTube Premium subscribers can still enjoy using picture-in-picture with the YouTube app on the iPhone and iPad until that date.

YouTube initially launched picture-in-picture as an experimental feature for iOS back in August of 2021. Up until now, the feature has only been available to YouTube Premium subscribers. Free users have not had access to the feature yet despite a ton of other apps already supporting picture-in-picture formally like Apple TV, Hulu, Twitch, and more.

The company promised in July of 2021 that, while the feature would be only available to Premium subscribers as an experimental feature first, it would eventually come to all users.

In a statement today, Google says that it still does plan to launch picture-in-picture support for all users but did not commit to a launch date.

Apple originally announced support for picture-in-picture on the iPhone and iPad when it revealed iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 back at WWDC in 2020.

What you need to know

• Apple TV+ has made the first episode of its new show available to stream for free on YouTube.
• The first three episodes of The Afterparty are available to stream on Apple TV+.

Apple TV+ has made the entire first episode of its new show The Afterparty available to stream for free on YouTube.

While the first episode of the hot new Apple TV+ show is now available to anyone who can access YouTube, those who like what they see will need to be an Apple TV+ subscriber to keep watching. The first three episodes are now available to watch via the streaming service.

The new show is a classic whodunnit comedy that has all the makings of yet another Apple TV+ hit, although it's still early days.

This is the first time Apple TV+ has put an entire episode of one of its shows on YouTube for everyone to stream, but it isn't the first new approach it has taken with this particular show. A Twitter watch party will also run today, another potential avenue for some free marketing. Apple will also hope that by getting people hooked on the first episode of The Afterparty it can convert some of them into free trials and, ultimately, paying customers.

If you want to enjoy The Afterparty in style, be sure to check out our list of the best Apple TV deals on the market today. You can also watch on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and a whole host of streaming sticks and devices as well.

What you need to know

• YouTube Music now allows people to turn their play queue into a playlist.
• YouTube made a change server-side and no new app update is required.
• The change should be live for everyone right now.

Those using YouTube Music can now take advantage of a feature that allows them to turn their current play queue into a whole new playlist.

The feature, which is available to all YouTube Music users now, allows people to ensure that their play queue isn't lost and to save it as a playlist for easier listening in the future. While the change was made server-side, 9to5Google does note that you will need the latest YouTube Music app installed. At the time of writing, that's version 4.61 or later.

While most people are likely Apple Music and Spotify users, Google's YouTube Music is still one of the best iPhone music-listening apps around. Google continues to improve the app that people use to stream their music and updates like this are very welcome indeed.

What you need to know

• YouTube Music's 2021 recap is now available to all.
• Subscribers to YouTube Music can now enjoy their 2021 recap after Google made it available to everyone.

YouTube Music subscribers can now join in with Spotify and Apple Music users by enjoying a recap of the music that they listened to during 2021. While the feature has been rolling out to people over the last day or so, it's now available to all.

The recap was announced yesterday but as 9to5Google points out, it's now officially available to everyone with an account. All people need to do is head to the avatar menu and tap 2021 Recap.

The feature is similar to ones already offered by competing streaming services, but it's good to see it now available to YouTube Music subscribers as well. While few would suggest that Google's music streaming service is the best iPhone option around, it's definitely a viable one.

Google also announced a Hits of 2021 playlist, a compilation of the songs that "made an impact in 2021" on YouTube Music during the last 12 months.

What you need to know

• Owners of Apple's new MacBook Pros are reporting kernel panics when watching HDR YouTube videos..
• People with 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are seeing their Macs crash when watching some videos via Safari.

A number of people who have picked up the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros have reported that they are experiencing kernel panics when watching HDR YouTube videos via Safari. People have been taking to online forums to report the problem with others noting that they were also able to reproduce it on their own machines, too.

According to a MacRumors report, complaints include all manner of the new machines running macOS Monterey 12.0.1. It's also pretty easy to reproduce, with some people saying that watching a video and scrolling to the comments is enough to cause their Macs to lock up.

While it initially appeared to be an issue impacting Safari, Chrome is also impacted — suggesting this is an issue with the Macs and/or macOS rather than the web browser itself.

It isn't yet clear what exactly is going on here, although the fact the issue is easily replicated might suggest that Apple will be able to pin down the problem relatively easily. Whether this is something to do with a dedicated video decoder within the M1 Pro or M1 Max isn't obvious right now either, but fingers are very much crossed that the best Mac for video creation will soon also be the best Mac for watching it, too.

What you need to know

• A new study has found that US users spend more time watching TikTok than they do watching YouTube.
• Users are watching more than 24 hours of TikTok content each month.

TikTok continues its meteoric rise with the news that US users spend more time watching its short videos than they do watching anything on YouTube.

The news comes after a study was carried out by App Annie. According to that report, those in the United States spend more than 24 hours per month watching TikTok videos. That number falls to just 22 hours and 40 minutes for YouTube, as noted by The Verge.

However, these figures only include US users who have Android phones — throw iPhones into the mix and the numbers could be even more staggering.

According to the report, YouTube fell behind TikTok in the United States in June of this year, while those in the UK switched in May of last year. in fact, UK users spend almost 26 hours per month watching TikTok. That number is just 16 hours for YouTube.

App Annie thinks that the reasons for TikTok's newfound dominance is its short-form videos and live streaming. Google's YouTube is now offering its own take on that via its Shorts, so it's clear someone inside the company is paying attention already. TikTok is already one of the best iPhone apps in terms of short-form content. Can YouTube compete? Time will tell.

What you need to know

• Picture-in-picture is now available for YouTube Premium subscribers.
• The feature is experimental and will need to be turned on manually.
• It is only available for iPhone at the moment, so iPad users will have to wait.

Picture-in-picture is finally here for YouTube with Apple devices, but there are two big caveats.

As spotted by 9to5Google, Google has enabled picture-in-picture for the YouTube app. However, the feature is currently only available to YouTube Premium subscribers. It is also an experimental feature, so you will have to manually enable it in order for it to work.

At this time, the feature is also only enabled for iOS, so iPad users are still out of luck. However, if you are a YouTube Premium subscriber and have an iPhone, you can actually start to enjoy using PiP with YouTube.

Below are instructions on how to enable Picture-in-picture on the iPhone right now. Keep in mind, it is still an experimental feature and is only available to YouTube Premium subscribers:

1. Visit YouTube.com/new while signed in to your Google Account
2. Find "Picture-in-picture on iOS"
3. Click "Try it out"
4. Start a video on YouTube for iPhone app
5. Start Picture-in-Picture by close the app (Swipe up or home button)

Thankfully, picture-in-picture won't be an experimental or premium-only feature for long. Back in July, the company announced that, while the feature will come to YouTube Premium subscribers first, it will be available to all iOS users eventually.

Now that the feature is starting to make its way to YouTube Premium subscribers, the rest of YouTube users will hopefully not be too far behind.

What you need to know

• YouTube is testing a new Premium Lite subscription tier that includes ad-free viewing without the other extras that YouTube Premium offers.
• The new tier is being tested in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

YouTube is testing a new ad-free tier that sits below the Premium subscription offering. Premium Lite still brings ad-free viewing to YouTube apps on all devices, but it does away with some of the extras that people might not want. It's also around 60% cheaper.

The new tier was first spied by a user on ResetEra and has since been confirmed by The Verge. YouTube says that the tier is being tested in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden right now.

The new tier doesn't include most of the features associated with YouTube Premium, with background playback and downloads being two of the most notable omissions. YouTube Premium Lite also doesn't include the YouTube Music benefits of its more costly alternative, either. YouTube is already one of the best iPhone video-watching experiences out there, even without those options.

It remains to be seen when — or if — YouTube Premiums Lite will come to the masses but it could be a great option for people who just want to be rid of YouTube's ads but don't need all of the bells and whistles that come with YouTube Premium.

What you need to know

• Google has announced a new feature that's designed to give creators a way to engage with audiences while also getting paid.
• Viewers can buy Super Thanks in $2, $5, $10, and $50 denominations.

YouTube has announced a new feature that is designed to give viewers a way to say thanks for the content they're watching — while also helping creators monetize their channels.

Super Thanks, as YouTube has dubbed them, come in $2, $5, $10, and $50 denominations and can be bought directly below a video while viewers are watching. Think of it as a tip jar of sorts, but with an element that allows creators to respond as well.

There's no downside here — viewers get to help support the content they enjoy and creators get to earn a little more money for their work. YouTube says that the new expansion will see thousands of creators now gain the ability to offer Super Thanks, although it isn't yet available for all. YouTube says creators can check if they have access right now, too.

Just getting into streaming and video-creation yourself? We have a list of the best microphones for shooting video right from your iPhone — no need for special cameras here!

What you need to know

• YouTube Shorts is going global.
• The service, a rival to TikTok, is rolling out in more than 100 countries.
• It was debuted in India and then expanded to 26 countries, including the US and UK previously.

YouTube has announced that its YouTube Shorts platform, meant to rival TikTok, is rolling out to more than 100 countries worldwide.

Announced last year, Shorts is YouTube's answer to short-form video, built on the success of apps like TikTok and featuring videos more easily viewed on devices like the iPhone 12. The service has been in beta in 26 countries for a while, and on Monday the company announced it was rolling out the service to more than 100 countries:

Google says it is also planning to add more features, including adding Shorts' creation tools within Google, including a multi-segment camera for stringing video clips together, recording with music, speed settings, and more. Users will also be able to sample audio from YouTube videos for creating videos like reaction posts and memes. Other new features including adding text, sample audio from other shorts, video recording of up to 60 seconds, adding clips from your phone's gallery, and basic color correction filters.

Speaking to iMore, social media industry commentator and consultant Matt Navarra said that the global rollout of Shorts "will hopefully start to reveal which platform is likely to dominate short-form video in the next couple of years."

"TikTok is by far the platform of choice for creators in this space, and it has built up a huge amount of equity in its brand over the past year," Navarra said. "Instagram, much like YouTube, is playing catchup with Reels but doesn't seem to have challenged TikTok's dominance as much as maybe it hoped it would have by now."

Navarra, noting some of the aforementioned changes, stated that YouTube's biggest asset is its existing deep library of content and that YouTube Shorts "has the scale and might of Google to disrupt TikTok's party."

Shorts is also getting "millions" of songs from over 250 labels and publishers including Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner, and more.

Google is also adding changes to make watching Shorts more enjoyable and intuitive, as well as a support fund for mobile creators. You can read the full announcement here.

What you need to know

• YouTube says that it's bringing picture-in-picture support back to iPhone and iPad.
• The feature will be available to all users, not just YouTube Premium subscribers.

YouTube is bringing picture-in-picture (PiP) back to iPhone and iPad, according to a new report. What's more, the feature will be made available to everyone and not just those who are paying for the YouTube Premium service.

In a statement to MacRumors, YouTube says that PiP is now rolling out to all YouTube Premium subscribers in the United States, while all US users will get it "soon."

It isn't yet clear why YouTube seems to only be rolling the feature out to those in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, there's a big wide world out there and a ton of people live in it. Hopefully this is just YouTube temporarily forgetting that fact in terms of its statement rather than an actual policy.

YouTube's PiP support allows users to watch videos even after closing the YouTube app. In recent years it's worked, not worked, and worked but only for some users depending on the day of the week and the way the wind was blowing. Things are now beginning to look more positive than ever – so long as you're in the US, that is.

Fancy a new iPhone to watch your hot YouTube content on? These are the best iPhone deals available today!

What you need to know

• Steve Wozniak has lost his lawsuit against YouTube over bitcoin scams that used his image to promote fake giveaways.
• Wozniak had claimed YouTube failed to remove content and materially contributed by actively promoting videos.
• A judge has ruled YouTube isn't responsible for content posted by users.

Steve Wozniak has lost his lawsuit against YouTube over bitcoin scams that used his image to promote fake giveaways on the video platform.

From Bloomberg:

Wozniak tried to argue this law didn't apply because YouTube failed in not only removing the content from the platform, but by "materially contributing" to the issue. He alleged that YouTube sold targeted ads that brought traffic to the videos, and mistakenly verified the channels hosting the videos.

The suit isn't quite dead in the water, as the judge has given Wozniak 30 days to revise his complaint.

YouTube Bitcoin scams were major news last year, with Apple leaker Jon Prosser one of a number of channels compromized. An in-depth report by iMore from August 2020 reveals how malware sent to creators was used to compromise various channels. As the report and Woz's suit notes, channels played videos advertising cryptocurrency giveaways, using pictures of himself as well as Elon Musk to give off an air of legitimacy.

Wozniak first filed his suit back in July of 2020, but has a legal mountain to climb to convince a judge YouTube is in any way liable for what happened.

What you need to know

• Apple has added a placeholder YouTube video so you can remind yourself when the event goes live.
• The upcoming event will kick off on April 20th at 10:00 AM PDT.

You can now set up YouTube to remind you when the Apple Event goes live on April 20th.

Earlier today, Apple officially announced that it will hold a virtual event on April 20th at 10:00 AM PDT. In addition to being able to watch the event on the Apple Events website and the TV app, Apple will also make the event live on YouTube.

The company has posted a placeholder video for the upcoming event and, if you have an account with YouTube, you can ask for the service to remind you when the event goes live.

As explained in an earlier report from today, Apple is expected to unveil an updated iPad Pro and its long-rumored AirTags at the event.

If you want to get even more hyped for the upcoming event, check out the AR experience that Apple released as part of the announcement or send a tweet with the #AppleEvent hashtag for a colorful surprise!

What you need to know

• Loading a video in the YouTube app on Apple TV is causing some people to see an error message..
• YouTube says that it's something it's aware of and a fix is being worked on.

A number of users are reporting that they are seeing an error message when they try to watch videos via the YouTube app on Apple TV. Thankfully, YouTube says it's aware of the issue and is already working on a fix.

Reported by MacRumors and 9to5Mac, a number of users are being given the "something went wrong" error when trying to watch video on an Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K. Some users have suggested that deleting the app and reinstalling fixes things, but that doesn't seem to be guaranteed to work.

However, YouTube has at least acknowledged the issue via Twitter, going on to say that a fix is currently being worked on.

Anyone experiencing the same issue and error message should probably try the reinstall trick. But failing that it looks like you're just going to have to wait for YouTube to roll out an update that fixes whatever's wrong. And if you're really lucky it might be something that can be fixed server-side, removing the need for an updated app to be rolled out.

Whether you're watching YouTube or not, you deserve to be checking out your stories on the best 4K HDR TVs around. Treat yo' self!

What you need to know

• Google has updated its YouTube app for iOS for the first time in two months.
• YouTube already has privacy information required by Apple, unlike most of Google's other apps.

Google has finally updated its YouTube app for iOS after nearly two months, following controversy about Apple's new privacy labels.

As reported by MacRumors:

Nearly all of Google's apps have not been updated since Apple introduced new measures requiring developers to disclose what data they collect from users. Google has previously stated that apps were to be updated in January, however, this promise never materialized.

As the report notes, YouTube is also one of the few Google apps that already had the information required by Apple for its new privacy labels. Other apps like Google, Google Chrome, Gmail, and more still don't offer any of the required information.

The whole saga has been really strange, not least of all because Google had previously followed a regular update policy, pushing out new versions almost weekly.

Earlier this week, it emerged that picture in picture support for YouTube seems to be back with the latest iOS 14.5 beta. From that report:

What you need to know

• YouTube is ending support for the 3rd generation Apple TV.
• Owners will need to AirPlay YouTube from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac to the box.

As reported by 9to5Mac, YouTube will soon drop support for the 3rd generation Apple TV and earlier. Customers who wish to continue watching YouTube on those models will need to AirPlay videos from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

According to the report, the change will only affect models older than the 4th generation Apple TV (commonly known as the Apple TV HD). The Apple TV 4K will also, of course, continue to support the YouTube app.

9to5Mac reader provided the outlet with the messaging currently being displayed to users with a 3rd generation Apple TV:

3rd generation Apple TV owners can, of course, upgrade to the Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K in order to continue watching YouTube directly. The app is also available on most Smart TVs, streaming boxes or sticks, and gaming consoles.

What you need to know

• YouTube now has App Store nutrition labels on iOS.
• They reveal the hefty amount of data Google collects on users.

A server-side update to YouTube's iOS App Store listing has revealed how much data Google collects from its users.

As noted by Apple Terminal:

The update is part of Apple's new drive to add privacy "nutrition labels" to apps, making it obvious to users what data apps use and collect.

Data used to track you includes your physical address, email address, phone number, user, and device ID.

Data linked to you for third-party advertising includes your location, contact info, search history, browsing history, and usage data. Data linked to you for the developer's (Google) advertising or marketing is the same.

Data is also collected and used for app functionality purposes, product personalization, and more.

Similar revelations were made about Facebook when that app was updated to feature Privacy Labels in December.:

Along with being an excellent gaming platform, the Nintendo Switch also lets you watch video on the go via the YouTube app. That's super convenient but can be scary if your kid is using the device to play some of the best Nintendo Switch games for young kids. Luckily you have the power to restrict YouTube content on Nintendo Switch to control what they watch.

Are there parental controls in YouTube for Nintendo Switch?

YouTube has a restricted mode that can be used on your desktop, Android and iOS devices, and Nintendo Switch. When active, this setting ensures that users will not see videos featuring mature content. The service uses a mix of metadata, video titles, descriptions, and community guideline reviews to determine what is inappropriate, but Google acknowledges the feature is far from perfect since everyone has a somewhat different view of what they think their kids can handle.

There is no way to refine your content preferences on the Nintendo Switch app — you can only toggle restricted mode on and off. When restricted mode is on, you also won't be able to see comments on videos.

How to restrict YouTube content on Nintendo Switch

If you've decided to use YouTube and want to make it a bit safer, we'll show you where to find the option. Just follow along:

1. Open the YouTube app on Nintendo Switch by navigating to it on the home screen and pressing the A button.

2. On the left side of the app, tab down to the Settings icon, which is the final one listed on the screen. Selecting it will reveal a list of new options to the right.

3. Scroll down to restricted mode in the Settings list and tap right.

4. Select the On option and press A to enable restricted mode.

Your viewing experience should be a lot safer now. Again, it isn't a catch-all to block all the content you don't want your young ones seeing, but it's better than nothing.

Can you use YouTube Kids on the Switch?

The YouTube Kids app is designed to provide a safer experience for children, delivering family-friendly content and a variety of helpful features for parents like limits on screen time and the ability to block entire channels. Unfortunately, the app is only available on iOS and Android devices, not the Nintendo Switch. Google also has a Family Link app that can be used to monitor a kids' activity and set screentime limits, but again this only works on smartphones.

Stay safe!

Even with these controls that let you restrict YouTube content on Nintendo Switch, it's possible for your kids to view something that you deem inappropriate. Be sure to monitor their usage on the Switch and consider only allowing them to use YouTube on devices where you have a finer level of control. Also check out the Nintendo Switch's primary parental controls so you can make sure they're safe when playing games.

What you need to know

• All of Apple's iPhone 12 options support HDR video.
• YouTube just updated its app to support HDR video on the new devices.
• The app needs to be updated for new hardware so make sure you update first.

YouTube has today updated its iPhone app to add support for Apple's new iPhone 12 lineup. That means that all four new handsets now support HDR video for the first time.

While YouTube has offered HDR support for iPhones since the arrival of iPhone X, the app does require an update every time a new device is released. That's less than ideal but, thankfully, YouTube seems to be pretty on the ball and gets the updates out relatively quickly. It did take a few weeks last year, though.

The newly updated YouTube is available as a free download from the App Store right now. Not that you'd know what to expect from the release notes!

Apple released iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro a couple of weeks ago, while iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will go on sale this coming Friday, too.