YouTube's latest experiment will automatically download Shorts videos to your device. It's part of the Smart Downloads feature that adds recommended videos to your library and makes them available for offline viewing on the fly.
If you're a Premium user, you can sign up for it on the YouTube app or experimental features page, which says that the "Shorts Smart Downloads" experiment is only available until July 15. However, note that the experimental feature is only available for Android devices.
"After signing up, go to the Downloads section of your YouTab. Scroll down to the “Smart Downloads” section. If you have recently viewed YouTube Shorts, you will see Shorts that have been automatically downloaded for offline viewing," YouTube said.
You can turn on Smart Downloads in the YouTube app by tapping on your profile picture > gear icon > Tap on Background and Downloads. You'll find a toggle button for Smart Downloads on the next screen. The videos automatically downloaded to your device will be available in Downloads > Smart Downloads.
YouTube launched the Smart Downloads feature in April last year for Premium subscribers. It downloads videos on Android and iOS devices when connected to a Wi-Fi network. The automatic downloads stop if YouTube detects your device is low on storage or using cellular data.
However, you can set the amount of storage allocated to the Smart Downloads feature and choose the default download quality for the videos.
Shorts Smart Downloads isn't the only feature YouTube is experimenting with right now. You can try out the new desktop user interface that is available to Premium users. The video-sharing platform is also testing features such as "Hype" to boost videos, community notes, channel QR codes, AI green screen backgrounds, and audio soundtracks voiced by celebrities.
Other than that, YouTube is doubling down on third-party apps that try to block ads. It's working to implement ads in a way that they are nearly impossible to block on the video streaming platform.
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