YouTube TV now dominates most of our devices at home and on the go as our main source for streaming content. We officially cut the cord 18 months ago and couldn't imagine going back to satellite or cable. During these 18 months with YouTube TV, many improvements have been made to both the apps and the service itself. As I think about the assignment and how YouTube TV could be evaluated, I began to think that there are two classes of application types; those that are front ends to a specific service and those that are standalone which are more of a utility application (i.e., Calculator app, Photo App, etc..). YouTube TV apps are front-ends to the TV streaming service, so my review is specific to the applications and not the service.
YouTube TV apps are available across many platforms and devices, which makes them ultra-portable. It is also available as a web app via several supported online browsers. However, Google Chrome is recommended as YouTube is owned by Google and optimized for Google Chrome. The mobile apps are available for iOS and Android, but popular versions of apps intended for TV sets are available as native apps for many Smart TVs or streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. These apps have a similar look and feel, which makes it easy to navigate and pick up where you left off as you may switch from watching a show on the TV set to the mobile app.
A common design element of both iOS and web app is the navigation bar that includes a Home page flanked by the Library and Live buttons, which expose their respective pages. The app does a good job at learning the user’s viewing habits and suggests programs to watch on the home page. The Home page also features mosaics for shows or movies that the user started watching but did not finish, allowing the user to resume watching. Over time, the top picks suggested get better as it learns preferred genres and shows/movies of interest.
The Live page is YouTube TV’s version of a live TV guide, only much better as this one is customizable. The apps have an interface for editing your guide. Not only can the user choose the channels to be included in the guide, but they can reorder the guide to list favorite channels at the top or however the user may choose.
The Library page lists those movies or TV shows that the user added to the Library. This is done by selecting the (+) button on any show currently playing or scheduled to play. It is essentially YouTube TV’s version of a DVR list. Shows that are recurring would all be recorded and listed on this page, along with upcoming shows or games. The DVR feature is far more intelligent than that of a TiVo or DirecTV, as this version understands that you want to have a specific show recorded regardless of what time it airs. This comes in really handy as there may be reruns late at night or programming schedule changes. YouTube TV’s DVR recognizes these programming changes and adapts as required.
The web app and streaming device apps function very much like the iOS app but have the navigation menu located either at the bottom or the top of the windowpane. Editing the guide is a lot easier to manage on the iOS app than on the web app. This is due to how the drag and drop handler is implemented. It would be much easier if they had a number ordering system for the guide that would allow the user to enter the order number of the channel that would determine where it would be placed on the guide.
While Family Sharing is a feature available in the service, it is not easy to switch between profiles. My recommended change would be to implement user profiles that would be easily swapped, much like Netflix or HBO Max has it implemented. Today, a second family member would have to log out of YouTube TV and log back in with different credentials to get his or her profile loaded with suggested views, etc.
One last improvement I would make is allowing offline viewing of content by downloading it to a local device for later viewing when the internet is unavailable.
The apps recognize the user's location in an attempt to adjust the content available for the user's geographic location. This also allows networks to implement programming blackouts depending on locale.
Overall, these are great applications that are packed with great service.
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