How to Download YouTube to iPad & iPhone for Offline Viewing

Watching videos on your iPhone or iPad has always been a good way to pass the time or learn new things. Earlier, people used to watch videos on the television, but the video viewing experience has developed a lot with the advancement of technology. Now, you can watch good quality videos on any electronic device you have, be it your smartphone, tablet, or even your television.

The introduction of YouTube back in 2005 brought about a big boom in the better video viewing experience, and that too for free. Now, you can find videos on YouTube on any topic you can think of. All you need to do is go to the search bar and search for the video.

Videos on all topics, ranging from educational to comedy, can be found on YouTube. Since its launch, YouTube has improved a lot, and the video viewing experience has become very seamless as compared to earlier times.

But what if you’re going on a vacation or don’t have a good internet connection? Well, then you can download YouTube videos on your iPhone and iPad for offline viewing. How can you do so? Well, scroll down and find out.

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How to Download YouTube Videos for iPad?

First of all, you need to know the download of YouTube videos for offline viewing involves some copyright issues too:

YouTube’s terms of service explicitly state that it does not allow downloading, sharing, or distributing content from the video-sharing platform in any way. Since the act cuts out the revenue YouTube (and YouTubers) make from the advertisements, downloading YouTube videos unofficially is generally looked down upon.

The YouTube videos can still be downloaded for offline viewing on the iPad or iPhone on YouTube and also through many third-party apps such as Softorino, YouTube-dl, and Uniconverter.

• The official way: YouTube Premium
• The easy way: Softorino YouTube Converter Pro (SYC Pro)
• The command way: YouTube-dl
• The upgrade way: Uniconverter

Note: The important thing to note here is that these downloaded videos can take up a large amount of space on your iPad or iPhone, so make sure to clean up the storage before downloading the videos so that you face no issues while you are downloading the videos.

The official way: YouTube Premium

The official way of downloading YouTube videos for offline viewing on your iPad or iPhone is through YouTube Premium. You can easily download any videos and can enjoy them while being offline.

Let us see how you can download the YouTube videos on your iPad or iPhone for offline viewing.

How to download the videos with YouTube Premium

1. Choose the video which you want to download.
2. Click on the video and wait till you see the interface.
3. Click on the Download button, which you see below the video.
4. A dialog box appears where you can choose the video quality. Choose the desired video quality and click on the download button.
5. The video starts downloading, and you can see the progress in the Downloaded section of the YouTube app.

Available on all iPhones, iPads, and Macs, A subscription of YouTube Premium starts at $11.99 per month.

The easy way: Softorino YouTube Converter Pro

YouTube has reported that around 70% of the video-sharing platform’s total traffic is from mobile users. The ability to enjoy all sorts of YouTube videos in high-definition on the iPad’s Retina HD screen is just what you need for a surreal entertainment experience. The only thing that could make it even better is being able to watch those videos offline. To enjoy the best of YouTube on iPad without being tied down by a monthly subscription fee, Softorino YouTube Converter Pro (SYC Pro) is here to save the day.

Launched in 2016 as a standalone app for macOS that allows users to download and transfer YouTube videos directly to iPad and iPhone, the tool is now available for Windows. Designed to be a one-stop solution to saving high-quality YouTube videos, the app actively converts videos into audio files and ringtones too. SYC Pro improves on its predecessor with the added feature of wireless connectivity, offering compatibility all the way to the original Apple iPod from 2001.

Note: YouTube terms of service explicitly state that it does not allow downloading, sharing, or distributing content from the video-sharing platform in any way. Since the act cuts out the revenue YouTube (and YouTubers) make from the advertisements, downloading YouTube videos unofficially is generally looked down upon. We review SYC Pro to educate the readers on how the tool works, with no intent to promote or advertise the sharing of copyright content.

Features:

• Support for Windows 7 and newer, along with macOS Mavericks 10.9 and newer.
• Works with iPadOS and iOS 5 and higher, along with every version of the Apple iPod.
• Apart from YouTube, video downloader supports more than 70 different websites.
• Supports downloading video content even in 4K Ultra-HD format.
• It comes with the ability to download 60FPS videos along with subtitles from the YouTube video.
• Wireless connectivity allows transferring downloaded YouTube videos wirelessly to the iPad and iPhone.
• The bulk download feature gives you the ability to download multiple videos from YouTube and other platforms at once.

Steps to Download YouTube Videos on iPad with SYC Pro

Now that you know everything that the SYC Pro tool has to offer, it is time to look into the steps to use it. Although the YouTube downloader is a premium tool, you can get your hands on the app’s trial version and take it for a spin before putting your money on the table.

1. Download and install the latest version of Softorino YouTube Converter (Download Link).
2. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer. For Windows users, you will need to install iTunes from the official Apple website, and not the Microsoft Store.
   
3. The YouTube downloader is free to use for 24 hours to try before you go ahead and buy it.
4. Using a Lightning USB cable, connect the iPad to the computer. You can also connect the iPad to Softorino YouTube Converter via Wi-Fi.
5. Head to www.youtube.com and Copy video URL of the video you want to download and watch on the iPad.
6. The copied link will automatically be picked up by the Softorino search bar, with the video preview available on the screen.
   
7. Select whether you want to convert the YouTube link to Video, Audio, or a Ringtone.
8. Additionally, select the resolution (for video) and the file format (for audio). You can also download the video as a ringtone in either full size or as a 30-second clip.
9. Select the iPad from the devices available and press Convert & Transfer to iPad to begin.
   
10. The video download from YouTube will now begin, and you will be able to see the download status at the bottom of the app window and hear a notification bell once the download is completed.
11. Head to the Videos or Apple TV app on your iPad and find the YouTube video downloaded there.

Note: The videos you download to the iPad will always be saved to the Apple TV app. If you choose to convert a video into an audio file, it will be saved in the Music app. Finally, if you chose to save the YouTube video on the iPad in ringtone format, you can find it in the Settings – Ringtone section.

The command way: YouTube-dl

YouTube-dl is a free and open-source command-line program for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can use it to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites.

Steps to download YouTube with YouTube-dl

1. Download and install the YouTube-dl.exe file on Windows. You can also fetch the installer for macOS and Linux from the official website.
2. Go to www.youtube.com and fetch the URL of the video you want to download.
   
3. Since the YouTube-dl tool does not have a dedicated UI, you will need to open the Windows command line, macOS Terminal, or Linux shell to launch it.
4. Launch the terminal window and navigate to the folder where you have downloaded the YouTube-dl file.
   
5. Type in youtube-dl and hit the space button. Paste the YouTube video URL and press Enter to run the command.
6. The YouTube video will be downloaded to the current folder, in its highest available video quality.
7. Additionally, to download just the audio of the YouTube video, you can add -f 140 before the URL. Ex: youtube-dl -f 140 https://youtu.be/YVJZQHNzhsM

After you have downloaded the YouTube video, you will need to move it to the iPad using the iTunes on Windows or Finder on macOS Catalina and newer.

The upgrade way: Uniconverter

Uniconverter is an all-around app that not only helps to download videos from YouTube but also sums up as a converter for audio, video, images, etc., a screen recorder, a video and image editor, and a video compressor, etc. These large number of features make it a very useful app.

You can download YouTube videos and even playlists in MP3 or MP4 format according to your needs. Let us see the steps involved in downloading the videos.

Steps to download YouTube videos from UniConverter

1. Run the “UniConverter” app on your PC.
2. Choose the “Downloader” option from the left panel of the main interface.
3. Go to YouTube and copy the URL of the video/playlist which you want to download.
4. Now paste the URL by clicking on the “Paste URL” sign on the software interface.
5. A dialog box opens and asks you to set the resolution and format of the video.
6. You can also specify the location of the downloaded files by entering the desired location in the “File Location” space in the bottom left corner.
7. If you click the “Download and convert” option, it shows all the possible formats in which the video can be converted.
8. Choose the options accordingly and click the download button.
9. The downloaded videos can be found in the “Finished” section.

Note: These steps can be followed on MacOS and on Windows to download the video. After downloading the videos, you can easily transfer them to your iPad or iPhone using iTunes or any other apps or by simply using a USB to lightning cable.

Uniconverter is available for both Windows and for macOS and requires Windows 7 or above and macOS 10.10 or above, respectively.

It is a paid application, and the plans are $19.99/monthly, $39.99/quarterly, and $59.99/yearly.

Conclusion

The various methods for downloading YouTube videos have their own limitations and advantages. Before choosing any of the methods, you must be aware of the pros and cons which come with them. They are as follows:

YouTube premium offers hassle-free, easy downloading. You can play the video even if your phone is locked or set a default video quality for downloading all the videos. It proves to be a useful solution for most people, but it isn’t the best way to download videos.

It limits the max resolution and doesn’t store the videos in internal storage and you can download the video only up to a maximum resolution of 1080p. The downloaded videos are not saved in the internal storage, which means that you cannot share the video with anyone. Plus, there is a limited playback time of 30 days only. Hence, you will have to connect your iPad or iPhone to the internet to view the video again. So it isn’t the ideal choice for most people.

Softorino YouTube Converter Pro (SYC Pro) is one of the easiest and best ways you can download and save videos from YouTube or other sites for offline viewing. So, it is highly recommended if you don’t want to bound yourself as YouTube premium users do. You can download good quality 4K UHD videos downloading from multiple sites or YouTube. Plus, the video can be downloaded in various formats and can also be saved as MP3.

However, the downloaded videos are not saved on the iPhone or iPad directly, and they need to be transferred from the PC to the device. Also, the high-quality videos take up a lot of space on the iPhone or iPad.

YouTube-dl is a free and open-source option that you can use if you don’t want to spend any money and still want to download videos. The video downloading process is speedy and the app does not take much space in the memory.

However, the process is a bit complex and would require you to get used to all its interfaces. You will have to copy the link again and again to download the video. Plus,you can only download the video in the highest possible quality, and there is no choice of downloading low-quality videos. Since it is a command-line-based downloader, so the process remains a little bit complicated.

Uniconverter is a simple and easy way to download YouTube videos. It has a simple and easy-to-use interface that can help you download videos in high resolutions quickly and effectively. So, do give it a chance and enjoy rich quality videos. You can compress files and videos using this app. Plus, you can also use this app for screen recording, editing, merging and changing the video quality.

However, the video downloading process is very complex. The subscription pricing is slightly on the expensive side. Plus, the videos are downloaded on the PC, so you will need to transfer them from your PC to your iPhone to iPad.

SEE ALSO: Is the iPad Pro Able to Play YouTube Videos in HDR?