One of the features of YouTube Red is the ability for users to save videos for offline viewing. This is a feature that users in the US will have to pay $9.99 a month for. However over in India and other emerging markets where internet connectivity isn’t so stable, such features are being offered for free.
In fact it was back in 2014 that YouTube launched YouTube Offline that basically allowed users in emerging markets to save videos for offline viewing. The good news is that it looks like that’s not all because during a keynote address during Google’s event in India, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the service will be gaining additional features.
One of those features is scheduled downloading. What this means is that users can configure a time in which YouTube will automatically download videos for them, so for example if at work you know that you have a stable and fast connection, you can choose to download videos during those times.
Another feature is the ability to download said videos in the background, thus keeping your device free to do other things. According to Eyal Manor, VP Engineering at YouTube, “We believe that every person should be able to experience YouTube at its best: in high quality, with few delays and limited buffering.” Unfortunately no word on when these features will begin rolling out, but we’ll keep an eye out for it all the same.