
The biggest benefit of this method is that you're not relying on any shady middlemen since this pulls the video right from the source. Google embeds this information with the YouTube API, so it's likely to stay there for the foreseeable future, meaning this method should work for a very long time.Ĭheck out our full guide to using the Download YouTube shortcut for help on setting it up. Using this tool, which lets you automate tasks on your iPhone, you can create a shortcut/workflow that will search for and use the MP4 file located in the code from the webpage of the YouTube video.

Method 1: Save Videos Straight from YouTube with a Shortcutīy far the easiest, most reliable solution that will last the longest is to use the new Shortcuts app in iOS 12 and higher - or the Workflow app in iOS 11 and older. Some of these methods will even download the videos right to an album of your choosing, and there's one method in particular that we recommend above all else since it relies on no third-party tools or services to get the job done, instead, grabbing videos from YouTube's API. We'll outline all of the ways, past and present, that you can save YouTube videos right to your iPhone's Photos app. But that doesn't mean you still don't have a few good options.


Dedicated third-party apps don't last long in the App Store, web-based converters aren't very functional on mobile, and rogue apps outside the App Store are tricky to sideload and open up the possibility of vulnerabilities. Downloading YouTube videos for offline use to watch later has always been a problematic endeavor.
