Good news: There are no more 16GB iPhones ($670 at Walmart) in Apple's lineup. Even the lowest-end iPhone SE ($249 at Apple) and iPhone 6s ($159 at Walmart) SKUs come with 32GB, which, let's face it, is the bare minimum you need these days.
Of course, maybe you've already got an older model with just 16GB of space. Or you decided to hop on a blazingly good refurbished-iPhone deal (I recently saw an iPhone 6 ($190 at eBay) for just $149) and now have to contend with that limited amount of storage.
Whatever the case, it's still possible to lead a normal and productive iPhone life. You'll just need to make a few adjustments, and maybe throw a few bucks at the problem.
1. Know your space hogs
With space at a premium, it's crucial you learn what's consuming the most of it so you can act accordingly. Here are the biggest offenders:
- Photos and videos
- Music and podcasts
- Games
Needless to say, the more unnecessary apps and media you can delete, the more space you'll have for the stuff you do want. To get a precise snapshot of your iPhone's space hogs, tap the Settings app and then choose General > iPhone Storage. In a moment you'll see the likes of this:
Lara Croft Go takes 1.15GB?! And I hardly ever play it? Sorry, Lara -- you gotta, well, go. I can always download you again when the mood strikes. And that's a good thing to remember: You can install games and other apps on an as-needed basis; not everything requires permanent residence.
In fact, thanks to a new feature in iOS 11, you can enable Offload Unused Apps to immediately free up space (when you're low on storage). Don't worry, your phone will keep any related documents and data for when you reinstall those apps.
On this same screen, iOS also lets you Review Large Attachments, a great way to quickly zero in on large photos, videos and email attachments. (If you find some you're willing to jettison, tap Edit, then choose the ones you want to delete.)
Finally, consider web-based alternatives to space-hogging apps. On my iPhone, for example, Facebook puts me in the hole by a little over 500MB. It's also a major battery hog, so deleting the app in favor of the browser version will help me on two fronts.
2. Consider your pixels
With every new iPhone, Apple touts higher-resolution sensors for capturing photos and videos. That's good news for quality, bad news for storage: More pixels means larger files.
The irony is that most of our photos get viewed on our phones or shared via Facebook or Instagram, where mammoth megapixel counts aren't necessary. Heck, even 1080p video is overkill for viewing on a phone or tablet; your mini-movies would look nearly as good (and consume less space) at 720p.
To that end, consider venturing into Settings > Camera and tapping the Record Video option. If you were shooting at 4K or 1080p/60fps, try downshifting to 1080p/30fps or even 720p. Chances are good you won't notice much difference, but you will save a lot of storage.
Unfortunately, Apple's Camera app doesn't let you take lower-resolution photos. For that, look to third-party camera apps like perennial favorite Camera+.
3. Put the cloud to work
As noted above, photos and videos will fill up your 16GB faster than Taylor Swift fills a stadium. Fortunately, iOS can help: its Optimize iPhone Storage feature offloads your photos to your iCloud account, keeping 'optimized' (read: lower-resolution) versions on your phone while storing the full-resolution originals online.
To enable this feature (which, in slightly vague terms, kicks in only 'if your iPhone is low on space'), tap the Settings app, then your name and finally iCloud > Photos. Make sure your iCloud Photo Library is toggled on, then choose Optimize iPhone Storage. It may take some time before this optimization is complete, and it's hard to say what it'll net you, space-wise, but this is a helpful feature when you're out of room and desperately need to snap some photos.
One consideration, though: The free 5GB iCloud account Apple gives you will probably prove insufficient to house all your media. Fortunately, it's not expensive to expand that storage, with Apple charging 99 cents, 79p or AU$1.49 monthly for a tenfold increase (50GB).
Of course, if you're already paying for cloud storage elsewhere, apps such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive can sync your photos to your cloud account, allowing you to delete them outright from your iPhone. In fact, Flickr gives you a whopping 1TB of free storage for your iPhone Camera Roll.
When you deploy one of these apps, however, make sure you enable the 'background upload' setting (which is usually disabled by default) so that photos get synced even when you're doing other things. Unfortunately, this option may require location services to be enabled for that app, which can impact battery life.
4. Try a magic trick
If you're so low on space you can barely even snap a photo, let alone install a new app or update iOS, there's a weird trick that might help you reclaim hundreds of megabytes, or even a few gigabytes.
In a nutshell, it works like this: You're going to try renting (and downloading) a movie that your phone doesn't have space for. Then you're going to try it again, and perhaps even a few more times. As evidenced by the reader comments in my original post, to say nothing of my own experience, this really works.
Why? Call it an oddity of iOS. A space oddity, if you will. (See what I did there?)
5. Add external storage
If only Apple would endow iPhones with memory-card slots. Fat chance of that ever happening! So if you want to offload space-hogging videos or carry around a large library of music and/or movies, you're sunk. Right?
Wrong. You can indeed add extra storage to an iPhone (or iPad ($249 at Walmart)) -- it just has to be external. This can take the form of a plug-in drive (not unlike a USB flash drive) or a wireless media hub. Each has its own pros and cons.
Take the SanDisk iXpand, which plugs into your iPhone's Lightning port and wraps around the rear. It offers a fixed amount of storage -- anywhere from 16 to 256GB -- and features automated photo-backup, support for popular video formats and a USB 3.0 connector at the other end for fast transfers to or from your PC.
At press time, the 16GB model was selling for $30 (AU$39, £22) direct from SanDisk, though it was listed as out of stock. Fortunately, the 32GB model costs just $6 more, meaning you're effectively tripling your iPhone's total media storage for only $36.
Of course, the iXpand (and products like it) leave a plug sticking out of your phone. If you don't want that added bulk, consider a wireless media hub: same idea, but with a Wi-Fi rather than Lightning connection.
For example, the Connect Wireless Stick (also from SanDisk) looks like a slightly overgrown flash drive, but doesn't need to plug into your iPhone. Rather, it connects via Wi-Fi, and in fact can connect to up to three devices simultaneously. Like the iXpand, it's available in capacities as large as 256GB -- and also plugs into a standard USB port for data transfers. Prices start at $22.99 (AU$30, £17) for the 16GB model.
You may also want to consider a multifunction solution like the RavPower FileHub Plus, a wireless SD-card and USB-drive reader that sells for $40 (AU$51, £30) on Amazon. It's not only a media-streamer, but also a travel router and 6,000mAh mobile charger.
It's important to take note of a key limitation with all these options: You can't use external storage for apps, and you can't play DRM-protected music or videos, of the kind you might purchase from iTunes or download from Spotify. External storage works only with your own, DRM-free, media.
If you've found any other ways to survive a 16GB iPhone, share them in the comments!
Editors' note: This post was originally published on April 4, 2016, and has since been updated.
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Air date: Sep 28, 2017
In the Season 2 premiere, 'The Breakdown' gets a new boss, a tough business lady with big plans to bring the outdated news program into the 21st century. Katie is thrilled since this is the kind of strong, professional female role model she hoped for, but Carol is immediately wary of this new influence in Katie's life. Meanwhile, Chuck has trouble adapting to Diana's idea for a new panel segment of screaming pundits.
MoreAir date: Oct 5, 2017
Katie tries to be executive producer for the day, soon realizing that Greg has it much harder than she realized. Meanwhile, Carol uses Greg and Katie's workplace competition as an opportunity to push the two of them together.
MoreAir date: Oct 12, 2017
Diana has been promoted again, this time to the head of the corporation that owns MMN, but before she leaves she finds herself embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal. This leaves Katie unsure who to believe, her mentor or her friends in the office. Carol becomes head intern and struggles to prove to the other interns, and herself, that she deserves the job.
MoreAir date: Oct 19, 2017
Katie tries to stop her mother from attending an award show, but is unsuccessful when Carol secures a position as a seat-filler.
MoreAir date: Oct 26, 2017
Katie realizes that while she has been working her way up at MMN, her friends have been getting married, having kids, and buying houses in New Jersey. She feels pressure to impress them on Instagram with her hip New York City lifestyle and lucks into going to a very cool Halloween party with Portia. Meanwhile, Chuck has been asked to use a new smart screen on the show, and in an attempt to get out of this seemingly impossible task, tries to convince Carol that it is possessed.
MoreAir date: Nov 2, 2017
Jeremy invites Katie to do some 'real reporting' and go on a stakeout with him. Carol is suspicious and kidnaps Greg to stake out the stakeout. The two discover that it may not be all business between Jeremy and Katie. In other events, Chuck meets Carvell, who is Portia's fiancé, and the two of them form an unlikely friendship.
MoreAir date: Dec 21, 2017
Carol finds herself in a reverse 'Christmas Carol' during which she learns that she has too much Christmas spirit and is driving everyone around her insane. Meanwhile, Chuck's estranged son, Petey, visits the office and Katie, who has been charged with babysitting him, tries to get the father and son to reconnect.
MoreAir date: Dec 21, 2017
Carol and Chuck don't think they should have to attend Sensitivity Training and decide to teach the rest of the 'snowflakes in the office' a lesson. Katie is excited about her new boyfriend, Jeremy, but Portia suspects Katie might just be a sidepiece.
MoreAir date: Dec 28, 2017
Carol is devastated to learn that her parents are getting a divorce after 70 years of marriage. Katie, still hurting from her breakup with Jeremy, is convinced that love is dead, but Carol is determined to prove that it's never too late to have a happy ending. Meanwhile, Chuck discovers that the reason for Justin's newfound happiness is the cute new barista at the coffee shop and proceeds to compete for her affection at the expense of his and Justin's friendship.
MoreAir date: Jan 4, 2018
Frustrated by Greg and Katie's adorable office flirtation, Carol invites Greg's girlfriend, Cat, to work in an attempt to show Katie her competition and get her to admit her feelings for her boss. But Carol's plan backfires when she is won over by Cat's charms, sending Katie into a jealous spiral. Meanwhile, Chuck finds himself an unwitting champion of the alt right.
MoreShow More Episodes There’s no need to head to a Mac or PC to create a custom movie using photos, music, and video. As iOS hardware continues to become more powerful and get closer to a true computer, there are a plethora of video editing apps that allow you to edit and create a video from different media files.
Below we highlight six mostly free video editing app choices for your iPhone or iPad.
1. iMovie
Any list of free iOS video editing apps wouldn’t be complete without Apple’s iMovie. The app should be your first choice for editing on an iPhone or iPad. While the interface might look overwhelming at first, it offers a number of powerful features and is as close to a desktop-class video editor you can find on an iOS device.
There are two major features to take advantage of. The surprisingly powerful editor allows you to select from eight themes complete with matching titles, transitions, and music. Additionally, the app offers 10 different filters to select from. You can compose a movie’s soundtrack from built-in music and sound effects, music from your library, or even your own narration.
If you’re looking for something different, iMovie has a great feature to help you make Hollywood-style movie trailers with the included graphics and scores.
You can save or share both types of movies in 4K or 1080p at 60FPS. Make sure to take a look at our great guide to editing videos on iPhone that includes a number of iMovie tips.
Download:iMovie (Free)
2. Splice
GoPro’s Splice lets you import files stored in other services like Facebook or Dropbox.
The app then lets you choose a soundtrack or add a track from your iTunes library. It has a vast selection of tunes neatly arranged in 13 genres (including pop, rock, and reggae). On the following screen, you can change your background color, transition, photo duration, and more.
When it comes to editing the video, you can select from a number of tools to trim the file, add filters, change playback speed, place text, and change the volume.
The audio editor tab has options to trim your music, download effects, or add aarration. You can then save the video to your device or share it via social media.
Download: Splice (Free)
3. Videorama Video Editor
Videorama is another solid video editor. After opening the app, you can pick from three different video orientations: landscape, portrait, or square. The square size is perfect for Instagram.
Easily the app’s best feature is the ability to download free videos and photos from Pixabay. It also allows you to download video effects, sound effects, and copyright-free music.
On the editing timeline, you’ll see the usual array of editing tools at the bottom including adding text, photos, music, and filters. Tapping the video slider at the top reveals four more tools. These include options to edit the clip, remove it, duplicate it, and add different transition effects.
The free version of the app allows you to create short 720p videos with a Videorama watermark. You can pay for a monthly subscription, or unlock all the features of the app. That will remove the watermark, provide access to premium content and features, allow you to create 1080p 60FPS video, and the ability to share content longer than three minutes.
Download: Videorama Video Editor (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. Quik
Another great app from GoPro, Quik is a solid choice if you want to create a video montage with just a few taps. Instead of a being a true editor like Splice, the app focuses on bringing together different media files for a customizable result.
After importing media files, you’ll then select a theme and its own soundtrack. You can also select the music icon on the bottom of the screen to change the music or add your own track.
If you prefer, you can instead select a number of different built-in templates, each with their own graphics and music. Before saving to your iPhone or iPad or sharing on social media, you can convert the video into a 16:9, square, or portrait format.
Download:Quik (Free)
5. Adobe Premiere Clip
You’ll need an Adobe account to use this app, but creating one is free and provides 2GB of storage. Premiere Clip lets you select media files stored on your device, in a Dropbox account, or within Adobe’s own Creative Cloud accounts. An automatic tool will create a video montage.
But the manual option allows much more control over the final video. You can choose the video’s exposure, highlight, and shadows. It’s also possible to change the playback speed and make duplicate clips on the timeline.
There’s not a wide variety of included music, but it’s easy to add your own. In the Settings section of the app, you’ll find a number of different filters and video effects.
Download:Adobe Premiere Clip (Free)
6. Magisto Video Editor & Maker
With a focus on social media, Magisto takes all the difficulty out of creating a perfect video. Just like Quik, the app handles all the editing itself. Using AI, the editor combines video, photos, music, text, effects, and filters.
After selecting a specific editing style like caring moments, memories, or travel, it’s time to import all the needed media files. Next, there are a number of different songs to select from, including everything from rock to cinematic. You can also choose a specific tune from a music library. Then share the results with just a single tap to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many other social networks.
Psp iso download emuparadise. The free version will create movies as long as two minutes and 30 seconds. There are two subscription types—Professional and Premium—that bring a number of additional features like longer movies, more editing styles, unlimited movie downloads, and more.
Download:Magisto Video Editor & Maker (Free, subscription available)
Ready, Set, Create With These Video Editing Apps
It’s so simple and quick to capture a photo or video with an iPhone or iPad. But most of us probably have a huge number of media files sitting on our device that we’ll never watch again. Using one of these free video editing apps, you can create a film to help enjoy those memories over and over.
Looking to specifically create a video for YouTube, Instagram, or other social outlets? Take a look at these great video editing apps for social mediaThe 7 Best Video Editors for Creating Social Media PostsThe 7 Best Video Editors for Creating Social Media PostsIf you want to make videos specifically designed for social media sites, check out these nifty video apps and editors.Read More.
Explore more about: iMovie, iOS Apps, iPhoneography, Smartphone Photography, Video Editing, Video Editor.
- Does anyone know any video editing apps that allow you to put two videos on top of each other. I mean in terms of having a photo in which you turn into video to use as a background and then another video that goes on top. I know you can in cute cut, but you can only upload 30 seconds of video unless you upgrade to pro.
- Cute cut is also a great app. The PRO version is only about 5 dollars while the regular version is free and does pretty much the same.
- on me
- I agree that iMovie can be difficult to the uninitiated. After some frustration, I attended a learning workshop at the Apple Store. They were very helpful and tailored the session to the exact needs of the participants. After that, I'm much more comfortable in using iMovie.
There are billions of hours of video on YouTube. Literally. And that's hardly the most astounding statistic about the site, which has been the go-to destination for uploading and watching video since 2005. That said, sometimes, you really want or need to have one of those videos on your own computer or phone.
When the topic of downloading YouTube videos comes up, there's a side subject that must be broached: Is it legal?
On the copyright front, as long as you're downloading a video for your own personal offline use, you're probably okay. It's more black and white when you consider Google's terms of service for YouTube, which reads: 'You shall not download any Content unless you see a 'download' or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content.'
After all, watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes money out of Google's pocket and the wallets of the video creators. There's a reason YouTube runs pre-roll ads: people make a living this way.
Let's be clear: stealing video from YouTube is a big no-no. If you want to share a video, YouTube and most other video sites make it easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. You simply do not need to download a video most of the time.
However, you have your reasons. If you must download a YouTube video—absolutely need to, just for yourself, and not for dissemination, and not to be a total douche-nozzle—here's how.
Note: This story is updated frequently as the tools involved change regularly. Some of those changes are not always pleasant, such as software so full of 'extras' it gets flagged as malware by antivirus tools. The same goes for the helper websites—a change in a site's ad network can also create issues with malware.
If you're interested in programs and sites that only download music, read How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.
If you want to download from Netflix or Amazon Video, read How to Download Video From Your Favorite Streaming Service.
We want to prevent this becoming a laundry list of programs and sites that can download YouTube vids, for there are far too many of these tools. To be included, the software must:
- Support 4K downloads even in the free version.
- Work with top three video sites: YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.
- Download entire playlists or channels in a batch (on YouTube), at least with a paid version.
- Output to MP3 for audio (or offer companion software that does so).
- Have an interface that doesn't suck.
- Not collect your personal data beyond your email address.
- Not contain malware. If there's even a whiff of it in the air, even a PUP, it's out.
The programs, services, and sites in this story are all working spam/virus/problem free as of this writing, but caveat emptor. Big time. Especially if you're not really emptor-ing.
Desktop Software
Third-party software is where you will get the best control over downloading online videos. Typically, you paste the URL for the YouTube video you want into the program, and it downloads the highest quality version it can find. For videos in 1080p High Definition (HD) format, that's usually an MP4 file. For anything higher in quality—4K and even 8K videos—the file format is typically MKV.
It used to be that YouTube videos were all Flash-based, so your download was an FLV file, but those tend to be harder to play back. MP4, short for MPEG-4 Part 14 multimedia format, plays everywhere, on anything.
Note that the MKV file, also called a Matroska, is a container—the file could contain video in any number of codecs inside. The fool-proof way to play them all is to use the VLC Media Player for Windows, which plays everything. As for the downloaders, here are the best options.
4K Video Downloader
Free basic functions, $15 for lifetime license on 3 computers;
Multi-lingual 4K Video Downloader (4KVD) is frequently updated and features clear download links on the program's website; no ad traps here. The software does what it advertises in a simple interface: grabs videos up to 8K in quality and downloads to plenty of formats. Just copy a YouTube URL and click the Paste Link button to get started. 4KVD will even grab subtitles, entire playlists, and all the videos in a channel to which you subscribe. The sites supported are limited to the big names like YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and a few others, but covers most of what you need.
In tests, I had to make a switch from MP4 to MKV format to get my test video to download in 4K. 4KVD snagged the 579.4MB file in about 43 seconds. It defaults back to 1080p HD, so I made the same switch when downloading an Ultra High Definition (8K) playlist. If you enable the Smart Mode and its pre-sets, 4K Video Downloader can then do one-click downloads to your favorite format. If you want to download more than 25 videos at a time or subscribe to YouTube channels to instantly download the latest, that requires the $15 paid version. Playback of the MKV file via VLC Media Player was flawless.
The program itself has an option to extract audio to MP3 format, so you don't even need the 4K YouTube to MP3companion software if you've got the original.
WinX YouTube Downloader
Free,
Digiarty's multi-lingual WinX claims to allow downloads from 300+ sites—including adult sites. Perhaps the biggest selling point of all is the claim that 'There is no malware, adware, spyware or virus. 100% clean.' The latest version has a much improved interface as well. There are ads, though—on install, I was asked to upgrade to its $29.90 product for Windows and macOS called VideoProc, which does everything that WinX does, but for 1,000+ sites, plus offers some editing for high-end 4K/UHD video.
When you copy a YouTube URL (even for a playlist), click in the WinX software to launch. You start with the 'analyzer,' which checks all the options. This tool also tried to default to the 1,920-by-1,080 version in MP4; I picked the 4K version (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) in WebM format, a subset of the MKV format—you can rename a .webm file to a .mkv and it'll work fine. In settings there are options to default to WebM at highest res. You can set up a number of videos to back up before you even click the download button. The 4K 575.4MB file took 1 minute and 39 seconds to download, more than double that of 4K Video Downloader.
Great News Download 720p Full
I couldn't find options for downloading closed captions. That's another strike against, if you need that function. But WinX makes up for it by supporting so many download sites and having a price equal to nothing.
Gihosoft TubeGet
Free or $29.95 for Personal Pro Edition;
Gihosoft's free version has limits—there's no one-click download, it doesn't support all 10,000 sites, you only get five downloads a day, and download speed tops out at 1Mbps no matter what your connection speed. You can also only grab audio in M4A and can't get subtitles. All those restrictions go away if you pay.
However, even free, you can grab 4K video from YouTube with no problem. A 575.4MB file took over 10.5 minutes—no surprise with the speed restriction, but still agonizingly painful. There's an option to convert the file to MKV, AVI, or WMV as you download it. If you want a playlist, you can do them in a batch, but in my test TubeGet would only allow a max of 1080p HD even on the 8K video playlist.
YouTubeByClick
Free or $19.99 premium;
YouTubeByClick captures video from over 40 sites. Before you even do the first download, you can use the 'dials' on the interface to set up a preferred download format (MP4 video or MP3 audio) and a default download quality as high as 8K, even on the free version. Downloading a 580MB MKV file in 4K only took 55 seconds—not bad at all, but that was with the premium version's unlimited speed. The free edition took a lot longer with the 2MB speed limit. You also need the premium version to download playlists and channels, do conversions, avoid ads, and get closed captions.
Star wars expanded universe ships. One thing you can do on YouTubeByClick that's unique is set it up so any time you copy a URL from YouTube, the program will notice if it's running in the background. Enter your account credentials for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and a couple of other foreign sites to get instant private downloads.
5KPlayer
Free;
Totally free, 5KPlayer from DearMob is a media-playing utility that is a lot more than a downloader—but it's got a heck of a downloader integrated. Promising no viruses, ads, or plug-in requirements is a good start. It is, sadly, one of the few I tested that asks for a registration of your name and email—you have to do that to get the full download function across 300+ sites. You may still use it if you don't register; I didn't and was able to download 4K vids from YouTube.
When downloading, the program does try to hide some things. Paste in the URL for a YouTube video and the analysis engine runs and shows only a few download options. Click the Gear icon, then the Show All button and you'll see more—including ability to get a 4K 3,840-by-2,160 file in WebM format. The 577MB WebM test download took about 6.75 minutes. Grabbing playlists was possible, but you must adjust download settings one video at a time. The confusing interface makes it hard to go back to the other videos in the playlist.
5K Player also features DLNA server playback so videos you grab can be watched on any devices on your home supporting DLNA network; it supports AirPlay for quick playback to supported devices. Pick a video in the library and you can do a quick conversion to MP4, MP3, or even ACC (an audio format preferred by iOS devices). The player didn't like playing back the overly large 4K file though and experienced buffering issues—VLC didn't have any problem with the same file. Ultimately, there's a lot to like about 5K Player, from the price to the features, especially if you look at them as extras on a downloader. But the interface and playback issues may have you looking elsewhere.
Helper Websites
Do you prefer to avoid installing software? Video download helper sites do the download work for you, providing conversion and then a download link—you don't have to install anything on your PC. It can take a lot longer, depending on the size and quality of the video you want—a typical two-minute movie trailer in 1080p can be around 30MB—but you can't beat the convenience.
There are hundreds of these types of sites out there—it seems anyone with a modicum of coding ability has set one up. Such sites can easily go from useful to suspicious, especially if they get popular. If your browser (or your instincts) throws up warnings, avoid and move to the next.
A few of these sites make it easy to grab video by letting you change the URL of a vid at YouTube slightly, so the service takes over. We'll note a few of those below.
NOTE: Beware of the ad traps on some helper sites—ads that look like they should be the download button to get your desired content, but they are not. Also, depending on the ad network employed by the site, your own virus detection software may throw up some warnings. The more the developers of sites rely on ads they don't control, or resort to trying to get you to place something on your system as 'payment,' the worse off we all are.
Here are a few helper sites that stand out. All of them do one basic thing: you give them a YouTube URL (or other video site if supported), they parse it, give you a choice of what size download you want, and provide a link to said download. All are free unless noted and work across all platforms.
TubeNinja
Despite some previous problems, to its credit, TubeNinja sports an easy-to-use site with nothing that appears like an ad trap. It supports a huge number of sites (including so, so many adult sites), several languages, and has the ability to add functions via a browser bookmarklet. Download size is limited to 720p resolution, maximum.
- Add 'dl' to a YouTube URL ('dlyoutube.com') for quick downloads.
YouTubNow
That's a 'tub' not a 'tube' on that name, but YouTubNow still works with YouTube and offers up to a 720p MP4 download, plus a lot of audio-only options. There are no ads and the downloads are unlimited. The paste box is also a YouTube searcher.
- Change a YouTube.com URL to say youtubnow.com (no 'e') and hit return for instant options.
YoutubeMonkey
One of the few helper sites that supports 4K downloads, YoutubeMonkey offers a super-simple interface—there's simply the form for pasting the URL and a download link—above a very ugly listing of popular videos that have been downloaded using the service.
- Add 'monkey' to the URL after 'YouTube'—literally make it 'youtubemonkey.com'—for instant download.
SaveFrom.net
SaveFrom.net has made a name for itself over the last few years. It can do web-based downloads, but also provides software to install and a browser extension, which it pushes. It doesn't support 4K, but few helper sites do—going to a 1,440MB WebM file is an option, but it doesn't come with audio—the only format that does is 720p MP4s. Nor can you use SaveFrom.net to make an MP3. Of course, those options are in the downloadable software.
- Add 'ss' in front of 'youtube.com' ('www.ssyoutube.com') for instant download.
VidPaw
VidPaw offers up the usual features but on a relatively spartan interface. Though it shows how YouTube might someday crack down on these things—VidPaw's own tutorial video, hosted on YouTube, was 'no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.' For now, however, the site works with 1,000+ other sites. It doesn't offer video/audio combo downloads larger than 720p MP4s; you can get the video alone as a 2160p WebM format if you desire.
- Add 'paw' to the end of 'youtube' in a URL ('www.youtubepaw.com') to instantly get VidPaw running.
Extensions
A browser extension can save you a step. But you're going to run into some issues with downloading video from YouTube, especially if you're using Chrome as your primary browser.
The Chrome Web Store—where you get Chrome browser extensions—is controlled by YouTube's owner Alphabet/Google. Even an extension ostensibly for this purpose—like the obviously named Video Downloader professional above—states right up front in its description, 'The download of YouTube videos to hard drive is locked because of restrictions of the Chrome Store.' In general with Chrome extensions, the download of any RTMP protocol video (protected videos) or streaming video isn't possible.
It's the same with other extensions like vGet. You can use them on other sites with video, of course. Just not YouTube.
Great News Cancelled
Want to get around it? Get an extension that doesn't come from the Google Web Store. Some of the programs and helper sites above have an extension component and will spell out how to do the extension install without the assistance Chrome users typically get from Chrome Web Store.
Other browser extensions can do the job, if you don't get them from Google.
FastestTube
Free; Opera, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE, Chromium-based browsers
This downloader tool is on all platforms, with an installer for Chrome that skips the Chrome Web Store. It puts a 'download this video' menu right on any YouTube page you load, with all the format options on display.
Video DownloadHelper
Free; Firefox, Chrome
Not to be confused with the unrelated 'pro' above, Video DownloadHelper supports a huge number of sites—even those for adults. You'll know a video is downloadable when the icon for the extension animates when you're on the webpage. Video DownloadHelper for Chrome has stopped working with YouTube—so it could get placement in the Chrome Web Store. You can get around that by using the Video DownloadHelper extension for Firefox. The developer has a Kiva initiative page, where it prefers you donate funds to those in need, which has raised over $137,700.
Threelly SmartView
Free or $33/year up to $133/year for businesses; Chrome
This is a Chrome extension that actually works from the Web Store—because it doesn't let you download YouTube videos. It time marks snippets you can share (only from YouTube). First create an account and log in. The extensions icon turns green on a YouTube page—click it to create the times you want, and they are then saved and easily shared; the viewer goes back to YouTube and sees what you specify. It's not really close to saving a video for your offline use, but could be useful in certain circumstances.
Mobile
Remember that problem of using Chrome extensions from the Google Web Store? You're going to have an even bigger issue when you want to download from YouTube using an Android app from the Google Play store, where Google has an even tighter grip. (Nor can you actually download anything with your officially sanctioned YouTube apps. Unless you live in India.)
That said, with Android it is possible to install apps without going through Google. The latest is InsTube – Free Video and Music Downloader just for Android—you can only get it at InsTube's site. You download the APK (Android application package) file to sideload on an Android device. Find it in your device's downloads and click it to install. (You may have to go into your security settings and enable 'Unknown sources.') There is a similar side-load app from YTD.
On iPhones and iPads, you'd think there would be no such restriction since Apple and Google aren't exactly the best of pals. But on the few apps I tried in the first edition of this story, not only wouldn't they download from YouTube, they're not even available anymore. One of those apps said in its description, 'downloading from YouTube is prohibited due to its Terms of Service.' Apple is ensuring that app makers play by the rules—even Google's rules. All the better to get Google to block someone who eventually does something illegal with iTunes downloads.
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Chances are, the minute you find an iOS app that can download YouTube videos, it will get 'fixed' or banned. The only real option is to jailbreak your iPhone and use sideloaded apps that download what you want.
There are workarounds. One is using a free iOS file manager app like Documents by Readdle. Use the Safari browser to visit a YouTube video, and use the Share option to find Copy Link. Then go back to Documents, and use the built-in browser in the app to surf to a video download helper site like SaveFrom.net. Paste the link into the form (hold your finger down on it until you get 'Paste' menu to pop up). The site will give you the links to download, and you can save the file to Documents. Hold down and drag the file up, until you're back on the main screen, then drag it to the Photos folder. You'll need to give Documents permission to access Photos the first time. You can then access the video like you would any video taken on the phone or tablet—in the Photos app.
Another workaround: Go back to the desktop and try AnyTrans ($39.99 for a single computer), a file manager for iOS devices that has an integrated downloader supporting 900 sites, including YouTube and Facebook. It'll transfer the videos to the iPhone for you over the USB cable. Even if you don't pay for AnyTrans, the download option remains and is free forever.