The app’s being sunsetted, while new data controls come to the main YouTube app
A successful mobile app manages to address its users’ needs, and not everyone has access to a high-end phone or super-fast cellular data connection. A few years back, we saw Android Go arrive to help serve this niche, with lightweight apps like YouTube Go and Maps Go helping to reduce the burden of access. But this approach to software has been changing lately, and Google seems to be moving away from solutions that explicitly target lower-end use cases, instead preferring apps that are more adaptable across the board. That’s just what’s happening now with YouTube Go, as Google prepares to kill it off, starting this summer.
YouTube Go will begin shutting down in August. Google doesn’t give us a hard deadline for when access will be cut off completely, but the company sounds serious about moving users over to the primary YouTube app.
The reasoning Google gives for this change sounds a lot like what we just heard earlier this year when we learned that Chrome was doing away with its data-saving Lite mode. Beyond just basic access to data connectivity improving in many areas, Google’s getting better at having its software adapt to slower data conditions, without the need for a dedicated app. YouTube’s also playing more nicely with entry-level phones these days, obviating the demand for something like a low-RAM edition.
In addition to addressing these kind of access and compatibility issues, Google would also clearly like as many users as possible getting the full YouTube experience, with all the (carefully constructed to grab and keep your interest) bells and whistles.
If you’re still concerned, Google does share that it plans to introduce new options for controlling data consumption — we just hope that ends up working better than the dumpster fire that’s become the app’s resolution settings.
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