YouTube enables offline video playback for users in Pakistan

Finding a stable and quick internet connection in Pakistan can be a challenge when you are constantly on the move. Add unreliability of local internet connections and limited 3G/4G data to the equation and you will find yourself in a tight situation while attempting to watch any YouTube video on the go. A few months ago, to remedy this problem in third world countries, YouTube introduced an offline video feature (not to be confused with a feature that comes with paid YouTube Red subscription).

Initially, this feature was only limited to certain cellular network providers in India. Since then it has been expanded to other countries like Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam. It seems that YouTube is now ready to expand this feature to users in Pakistan too. Many Pakistani YouTube viewers are now seeing the ability to download videos for offline usage enabled in their apps.

To save any video for offline usage, look for a download button alongside like, dislike and share buttons.

Clicking on that button will give you the option to choose desired quality of the video to save.

Select your desired quality and then click OK. The video will start downloading immediately and you can see its progress in the notification center.

You can view and manage your saved videos by going to account tab of YouTube app and looking for offline videos section.
Opening the offline videos section will present you with a list of all of your saved videos and from there you can watch or delete any video in your collection.

Certain caveats while using this feature

There are some restrictions while using this features:

• According to YouTube, not all videos are available to watch offline. It is completely up to the uploader to make videos available for offline viewing.
• Downloaded videos will only remain in the collection for 48 hours without any internet connection. After 48 hours, YouTube needs to connect to the internet to check if there has been any change in offline viewing policy for the said video. If uploader has since removed the ability to save video offline or the video has been removed from YouTube servers, it will also be deleted from your collection.
• By default, videos are only added to offline over Wi-Fi. To allow videos or playlists to be added to offline over mobile networks, go to Menu > Settings > Offline and uncheck the box next to Add over Wi-Fi only.

Ever since YouTube has been unblocked in Pakistan, Google has been paying attention towards Pakistani users to make up for the time lost due to 3 and half year long ban. This strategy has included steps like introducing a local version of the website and allowing monetization in Pakistan. This latest step will also go a long way in promoting the use of YouTube in Pakistan.

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