YouTube’s quest to have an app on every device in your house has kicked it up a notch with the arrival of an app for the Nintendo Switch as a free download from the eShop in Australia (and other territories).
While Switch is a mobile device, it lacks an app store for practically anything outside of games. That’s fine, it’s a game console … but it’s powered by much the same hardware as your phone or tablet, so it would make sense to have some video streaming apps on the platform. Hulu launched an app last year, but the service isn’t available in Australia (yet) so the app isn’t either.
YouTube for Switch lets you sign in to your Google Account (using a mobile device via activation URL) and choose which account or brand/channel you want to use on the device. You can also watch purchased items, and if you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber then all that content is also available for you to watch. The app also supports 360
There’s a few quirks – while the Switch is a touchscreen device, you can’t swipe up/down/left/right to navigate the screen although you can tap on videos and icons and tabs to get around. When you click on a video, it starts immediately without a chance to view the description, etc.
Since the Switch doesn’t have its own 4G connection but rather relies on another device to power its Wifi network, its very likely that device has a YouTube app already on it, but it’s good to have a nice big 6.2-inch display to watch videos on the go.
Is it possible to download videos for offline viewing (for Premium subscribers)?