YouTube has rolled out a bunch of new features for premium users on iOS and Android apps including the ability to add videos in a queue, and watch content together via Meet live sharing/ shareplay, 1080p HD video support, and smart downloads. These features are only available to Premium subscribers. The Smart Downloads feature will let users continue watching videos across devices from where they’ve left off. Additionally, the Shareplay feature on iOS will allow users to watch content with their family and friends via FaceTime, and Meet Live Sharing with a similar ability is now available for Android users.
YouTube in its latest blog post announced several new features including queuing videos to meet live sharing, smart downloads, and an enhanced 1080p HD video support on iOS. YouTube Premium subscribers can now access these features.
Starting with the Queue feature, it allows one to create a temporary list of videos that they want to play next, similar to the one available on YouTube web. Users can also rearrange the videos in the queue or remove them.
The next notable feature is YouTube’s Meet Live Sharing ability for Premium users on Android that will let users watch YouTube videos together with their families or friends via Google Meet. In the coming weeks, a similar feature will also be made available for iOS users on FaceTime via SharePlay. Do note that to access this feature, only the host needs to be a Premium subscriber.
Additionally, YouTube has also brought the ability to continue watching the content across devices where the user has left off. This means, even if a user has switched the device, the content can be resumed from where they left off. The feature is available on Android, iOS, and the Web. And with the smart downloads feature, the recommended videos will be indexed to the library and can be viewed offline.
Furthermore, the video streaming platform has also brought an enhanced version of 1080p video quality for iOS that will make videos more crisp and clear. There is already a regular 1080p streaming quality which is accessible to all users, however, this new enhanced version is limited to Premium users only.