YouTube continues to expand its plans for Shorts. Recently, the platform introduced the option to download and watch videos offline, and now it will also allow downloading Shorts. Here’s YouTube’s Smart Downloads support for Shorts.
Watch Shorts offline with Smart Downloads
YouTube aims to broaden access to short videos under the Shorts Smart Downloads test feature. This feature will enable users to download Shorts even when offline. However, the automatic downloading of videos has sparked some controversy.
The Smart Downloads option is currently part of an experimental program available only to YouTube Premium subscribers. Premium members can opt in to try this feature through the YouTube mobile app or the platform’s experimental features page. Note that this is currently applicable only on Android.
Explore the changes in Google Assistant and its competitor, Gemini AI assistant. Both now require you to specify a time.
After signing up, the YouTube app will feature a ‘Smart Downloads’ section in the Downloads tab. Here, Shorts videos will be automatically shown based on the user’s viewing history. Downloaded Shorts videos can then be accessed offline.
Last year, YouTube initially introduced background automatic video downloading over Wi-Fi. Known as Smart Downloads, this feature has now been expanded to include Shorts videos.
The automatic downloading aspect of Smart Downloads has raised questions among some users. After enabling this feature, YouTube will download multiple Shorts videos onto the user’s device, leading to increased cache usage.
