iOS 6 is just around the corner with dozens of new features, but it is also lacking one important service – YouTube. While users will be able to access the VOD service through Safari, the dedicated iOS YouTube app will be gone. Not if Google has anything to say about it.
Last month, a few iOS 6 testers noticed something strange one day – the YouTube app was gone.
Requesting a comment from the Cupertino, California-based Apple inc., The Verge learned that Apple’s license to include the YouTube app in iOS had ended.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed that “customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.”
When it heard that Apple was removing the YouTube app bundled with every iOS iteration since 2007, Google quickly went to the drawing board and coded up an iOS-native application.
A YouTube representative told 9to5mac in August, “We are working with Apple to ensure we have the best possible YouTube experience for iOS users.”
Apple pundit John Gruber, of Daring Fireball, issued his own take on the matter, noting, “I don’t think anyone should assume that the YouTube experience on iOS is necessarily going to be worse without this app built in.”
Well, it’s time to see whether that assumption was correct. The software is now officially out in the App Store. And it’s got ads.
“Watch the world’s videos and keep up with your favorite YouTube channels with the official YouTube app for iOS,” says Google. “Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more.”
The key features list doesn’t mention the nagging advertisements, but it does say that the new app will let you enjoy YouTube’s vast video catalog, find videos and channels with voice search, subscribe to channels, use a channel guide UI, read comments, browse related videos, enable subtitles, and share to Google+, E-mail, Facebook and Twitter, all from the same app.
Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
