Downloading anything on an iPhone outside of the official channels is usually a big challenge, especially as apps that make the process easier hardly ever last long on the app store, or require jailbreaking.
This also applies to YouTube videos, as it’s quite difficult to get them offline outside of a YouTube Premium subscription.
Watching videos on YouTube is a bit of a data hungry activity, and because of that, most people seek out various options for saving these videos for offline viewing.
We’ll be exploring a few ways to download YouTube videos to your iPhone, but do note that according to Google’s terms of service for YouTube, most of these may not be exactly legal.
Using Documents by Readdle
This method involves installing an app, Documents by Readdle, a file manager that can be used to download videos and transfer them to your iPhone Camera Roll.
- Download the Documents app from the App Store
- Tap “share” under the video you want to download in the YouTube app, and select “copy link” from the options you see.
- OPen the now downloaded Documents app, and skip the option to upgrade to the premium version if you want.
- Inside the app, open the in-app browser from the icon at the bottom right corner of the app.
- Visit savefrom.net, or any other site that can download YouTube videos that you know.
- Paste the link copied from the YouTube app in the provided space when the website loads, and click ‘download”.
- After the download is completed, to move the file to your Camera Roll, tap the folder icon at the bottom left of the Documents app to switch back to the file manager from the browser.
- Tap the three dots beneath the newly downloaded file, and select “move” from the list of options given.
- On the move page, you should see the “Photos” folder under “My files”. Tap that, then select “move”. You may be prompted to grant permission to access your photos, select “allow access to all photos”. You should now be able to find the video in the “Photos” app.
Congratulations on completing your first download, now rinse and repeat as often as you want, I promise it doesn’t take as long as the number of steps make it seem.
Using your iPhone Screen Record Feature
This option is a more straightforward one, and all you need to do is play a video and start your phone screen recorder.
The only issue is that the video quality isn’t that great, and you’re going to have to play the entire video while it records, which can be a pain.
Using a YouTube Premium Subscription
Probably the most straightforward way to save a YouTube video for offline viewing is to pay for the premium service.
Added benefits of doing that include; being able to watch videos without annoying ads, being able to save videos for offline viewing, access to YouTube Originals (A channel for original contents made exclusively for YouTube), YouTube Music Premium comes included, and the ability to play videos in the background.
Downloading on PC
Another option to download YouTube videos to your iPhone is to use any YouTube downloader site to download the video you want directly to your PC, and transfer to your iPhone.
Using an Apple PC, airdrop would be the easiest way to do the transfer, while a few options are available for Windows PCs, both wirelessly and via USB.
These are the best options if you’re looking for how to download YouTube videos to your iPhone. Do let us know in the comments what you think and if you find these tips useful. Also don’t forget to share with others who might find these useful.
Very helpful 👍