What the YouTube app’s “Smart downloads” are and how to disable them

If you have a YouTube Premium subscription, the YouTube app’s Smart downloads function will automatically download suggested videos for offline watching. To save space and bandwidth on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, you may learn more about it in this video, as well as how to modify its settings or turn it off.

What do YouTube “Smart downloads” mean?

The app makes video recommendations for your feed based on an algorithm, unless you prevent YouTube from tracking your online activities.

The official YouTube iOS and Android apps go above and above when you sign up for YouTube Premium by not just displaying suggested or fresh content on the Home feed but also downloading part of it for offline viewing. Smart downloads, as they are known, make sure you always have some offline content to watch without having to actively download anything.

According to what I’ve observed, the Smart Downloads feature automatically stores certain suggested, fresh, and even subscribed channel videos so the user has enough offline content to watch whenever they want.

Observations regarding the feature

• Only when your phone is Wi-Fi connected will videos download.
• Over cellular data, videos don’t download.
• If your device’s local storage is running low, downloads will halt.

Activate Smart downloads in the YouTube app and access them

1. Launch the YouTube app, then select Library.
2. Choose Downloads.
3. If Smart is already turned on, you can access your downloads here. To play a saved video, tap it. You can also see how much space it requires under the Smart downloads category. Toggle this function on, though, by tapping the Turn On button. Tap the three dots symbol > Settings if you don’t see the Turn On button. Lastly, enable Smart downloads.

Smart Downloads video quality changes

1. Tap Library > Downloads after launching the YouTube app.
2. From the upper right, tap the gear symbol.
3. Tap Adjust Smart Downloads to continue.
4. Choose your preferred download quality from Low (144p), Medium (360p), High (720p), or Full HD with Tap Smart (1080p).

What amount of local storage do Smart downloads require?

As previously indicated, if your device’s storage is running low, this feature will immediately stop saving videos. But, you may limit how much room it can occupy by adjusting the settings:

1. To access the Customize Smart downloads section of the YouTube app, follow the instructions under the headline above.
2. Under Storage use, choose Custom.
3. Move the slider to the desired position. You can instruct the app to intelligently download up to 10 GB worth of offline recommended material.

YouTube app’s Smart downloads turned off

You may decide to disable YouTube’s Smart Downloads feature for a few valid reasons. The main justification is if you never use it or find it useful because you always have a dependable Wi-Fi connection. Another justification can be a Wi-Fi plan with a data cap or a desire to conserve phone storage by avoiding video downloads that can consume hundreds of MBs.

To disable YouTube’s Smart downloads, follow these instructions:

1. Choose your profile photo from the top menu of the YouTube app.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Tap Background & downloads from here.
4. Switch off Smart downloads by doing so.

By doing this, any smart downloads will be promptly deleted, freeing up space. Also, it will prevent future recommendations from being automatically saved when your phone is Wi-Fi connected.