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New YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch now available, hands-on photos and video

New YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch now available, hands-on photos and video

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Google has released an all-new YouTube app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which it said it was working on last month when Apple revealed it was removing it from iOS 6. The new app is completely native, and in our brief time with it we found it to be fast and responsive. It us the same design language as the Google+ app on iOS, and like that app it's quite good at loading up reams of new content quickly.

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Gallery Photo: YouTube app for iPhone hands-on photos
Gallery Photo: YouTube app for iPhone hands-on photos

Google has released an all-new YouTube app for the iPhone and iPod touch, which it said it was working on last month when Apple revealed it was removing it from iOS 6. The new app is completely native, and in our brief time with it we found it to be fast and responsive. It uses the same design language as the Google+ app on iOS, and like that app it's quite good at loading up reams of new content quickly.

Google's new YouTube app is nearly identical to its Android counterpart, though in a few ways it does outshine Android. From any screen, you can swipe to the right to reveal a menu of your subscribed channels, the channel guide, and other content. Google has made some improvements to the video watching experience, with a share button that integrates with iOS' built-in options and the ability to drag up the content/comment area when watching a video to see more of it as your clip is playing. YouTube videos that have closed captioning also work, you can tap the "CC" button to bring up a menu of the different language options and then see the text of what you're watching at the bottom of the screen.

Finally, search is also enhanced. There are small arrows to the right of each predicted search term which you can tap to auto-fill and then further refine your search. One thing that didn't make it over from the Android app is pre-caching videos when on Wi-Fi with power, something that Google says iOS doesn't fully support.

In addition to the new app, Google says that it's giving iOS users access to previously unavailable content like official music videos alongside TV and movie content from Google Play. The new YouTube app for iOS should be available for iPhone and iPod touch users any moment, but iPad users will have to wait a little longer. A proper iPad-optimized YouTube app is coming, but only "in the coming months."

YouTube app for iPhone hands-on photos

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