YouTube adds video options on iPhone and Android devices

New options are rolling out in the YouTube app for Android and iPhone users to provide more control over how you see your videos. Until now, the resolution defaulted to an Auto setting based on your connection, with the option to manually select from the maximum value (mostly 720p or 1080p) down to 144p.

The latest version of the app now gives two additional options for setting the resolution. The higher picture quality selection prioritizes image quality to the best possible option (up to 720p) while the data saver option limits the quality to a maximum of 480p to save you from using all of your data while streaming.

The settings can be made per video, by selecting Quality from the options menu. You can also make universal changes from the video quality preferences in the YouTube settings menu.    

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The story, first picked up by Android Police, questions whether these extra steps were really needed. And I would tend to agree. While a general data saver option in the main settings menu has its place for users that still have capped data limits, the higher picture quality option seems to do little that couldn’t be selected manually already, or that indeed, the Auto settings already provides.

The only real benefit is having the option for different settings for WiFi and mobile network use. To find the new settings, make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube app downloaded. At the time of writing, the new settings were not available on the iPhone version.