YouTube Adds SharePlay Support and More for Premium Members

Google announced today some new features to make its YouTube Premium subscription more valuable. YouTube Premium members currently enjoy an ad-free experience and other perks such as video downloads and background playback on mobile, but Google is adding a new 1080p Premium video quality setting as well as other features Premium subscribers can try today.

Here are the new YouTube Premium features Google announced today:

Queuing videos on mobile: YouTube Premium users can now choose what videos they want to watch next on phones and tablets without interrupting the video they’re currently watching.

Shareplay support on iOS: Google is making support for the system-level co-watching feature on iOS a YouTube Premium perk. On Android, Premium members can already invite other users to watch videos together via Google Meet.

Continue watching videos across platforms: YouTube Premium members can now easily start watching a video on a device and pick up where they left off on another device (iOS, Android, or web).

Smart downloads: Now available on the web and mobile devices, Smart downloads will automatically download recommended videos when you’re connected to Wi-Fi so you watch them offline.

1080 Premium quality: This enhanced 1080p quality setting that uses a higher bitrate will launch soon on iOS and as an experiment on the web. The standard 1080p quality will remain available for free users.

Google now has 80 million YouTube users subscribing to Premium, and for $11.99/month the service remains great value when you take into account that YouTube Music Premium is also included for free. If you have kids, the YouTube Kids app is also ad-free with a Premium subscription and supports offline videos.