Google’s new YouTube Go app is aimed at users in developing countries that do not have access to high speed Internet and large amounts of data.
Malaysia is among the first few countries where the app has been rolled out, alongside 10 other nations namely the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The standalone app, which is still in beta, is designed for offline use and works when there’s zero or low Internet connectivity.
To get started, simply select any video, and you will be prompted to choose from three quality options available — Basic (144p), Standard (480p) and High Quality (720p).
If you select the smaller sized video file, it will load faster with a limited Internet connection.
"With the new offline feature, users can watch downloaded videos offline anytime, anywhere,” said YouTube head of marketing for the Next Billion Users divison, Zuber Mohammed.
Despite being one of the more advanced countries in terms of mobile penetration rate and data usage, Malaysia was chosen as one of the first few countries for the rollout because of its large amount of prepaid users.
“Users here could benefit from the app as more than 80% of users in Malaysia are still on prepaid plans, which have limited amount of data available per month,” said Google Malaysia head of communications and public affairs Zeffri Yusof.