YouTube seems to be looking to introduce smart download in its mobile app on Android devices. Such a function is already available on YouTube Music. How will it work for movies?
YouTube is testing the new Android Smart Download feature
This feature in YouTube Music works very simply, it downloads some songs when we are connected to Wi-Fi so that we can listen to them outside the home without wasting mobile internet. Now YouTube wants to introduce something like this also in the regular application with videos. As reported 9to5Google, some users in Europe who use the service on Android devices have received a notification that they can try the “Smart Download” option. By registering for the tests, you will be able to check its operation. It’s worth mentioning, however, that it’s only supported on Android 12 devices, at least now while testing is ongoing.
According to the information, the YouTube application will download a set of 20 movies selected based on the algorithm of recommended movies every week (when we are connected to Wi-Fi). Probably our history of watched content will simply be analyzed in order to choose movies for our taste. The videos downloaded in this way will be in the offline playlist, in the same place where the manually downloaded videos are saved.
Is this feature needed? Hard to say. It can probably be useful for those who have limited mobile data, although in fact, they can download the materials they are interested in. It is possible, however, that it will eventually be more useful.
