When you’re watching a YouTube video on your iPhone and suddenly…it buffers, there are few things more frustrating.
You’ve lost your internet connection, so your video is buffering. Perhaps you’re out on the road and the service is spotty. You may not have access to WiFi because you decided to go camping and, lucky you, you’re stuck in your car because of heavy rain.
I wish you could download some of your favorite YouTube content directly to your iPhone for offline viewing!
Yes, you can.
You can download your favorite YouTube videos to your iPhone so you can watch them without an internet connection. There are official and unofficial ways to download the content.
YouTube Premium
Other than the official method we’ll show you, downloading videos from YouTube that aren’t yours violates the terms of service.
The YouTube terms state: “Unless explicitly authorized by the Service, you may not utilize any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube or, if applicable, the respective rights holder..”
Unless you’re downloading YouTube videos for personal viewing, you shouldn’t have any legal issues. YouTube’s terms likely protect advertising revenue lost by users downloading videos. Still. You could be held responsible.
As long as you go through the proper channels, you’ll want to subscribe to YouTube Premium, the platform’s paid subscription service.
YouTube offers users an ad-free version of its platform for $11.99 per month. You can also download your favorite videos to watch offline.
Start watching YouTube videos in the YouTube iOS app once you’ve subscribed to YouTube Premium. There is a Download button below the video. Select the video quality you want, then click Download. When the video has finished downloading, a checkmark will appear below the video. The downloads will be available in both the Library and Account tabs on YouTube.
Unofficial Third-Party Services
Even if you don’t want to sign up for YouTube Premium, you can still download YouTube videos directly to your iPhone. Unfortunately, there aren’t any apps in the App Store that will download YouTube videos, so this really is a workaround.
You’ll need to download an app called Documents by ReaddleDocuments by Readdle. It’s a free file manager application for iOS.
Install the YouTube mobile app on your iPhone, and then go to the YouTube video you wish to download and copy the link.
The next step is to open Documents by Readdle and navigate to the built-in browser. Go to a third-party YouTube download website by using the Documents by Readdle browser.