How to Download YouTube Videos on iPhone (2026 Guide)

Downloading a YouTube video on an iPhone used to mean hunting for a questionable app that would vanish from the App Store a week later. It does not have to work that way anymore. Since iOS 13, Safari has had a proper download manager, so a web-based downloader can hand you a normal MP4 or MP3 file that lands in the Files app. From there you can play it, share it, or move it to Photos. This guide walks through the whole process, explains where iPhone puts downloaded files, and covers the problems people run into most often. Everything here applies to iPad as well.

Quick answer

1. In the YouTube app, tap Share → Copy link under the video.
2. Open Y-Download in Safari and paste the link into the box.
3. After about two seconds you will see every available format with its estimated size. Tap Download next to an MP4 quality (720p or 1080p is the sweet spot for a phone) or an MP3 option for audio only.
4. When Safari asks whether you want to download the file, tap Download. Progress shows in the download icon that appears near the address bar.
5. Find the file in Files → Downloads. To put it in your camera roll, open it and choose Share → Save Video.

Nothing needs to be installed and no account is required.

Two ways to watch YouTube offline on iPhone

Before the step-by-step, it helps to know the two routes and when each makes sense.

YouTube Premium includes an official offline feature. You tap Download inside the YouTube app and the video is stored for playback in the app while your subscription is active. It is the simplest option and the one YouTube endorses, but the video never becomes a file: you cannot open it in another app, edit it, or keep it after the subscription ends.

Saving an actual file with a web downloader gives you a regular MP4 or MP3 you control. That matters when you need a clip for a school project, want a full-quality copy of your own uploads, or want the audio from a lecture in a podcast app. It also puts the responsibility on you: download only videos you own, have permission to save, or that are released under a license that allows it. Our guide on whether it is legal to download YouTube videos covers this in more depth.

Step by step in Safari

1. Copy the video link

In the YouTube app, tap the Share arrow under the video and choose Copy link. If you are watching in Safari instead, tap the address bar and copy the URL. Links to Shorts, YouTube Music tracks, and public playlists work the same way as regular videos.

2. Paste the link into Y-Download

Open Safari, go to y-download.com, tap the input field once, and choose Paste from the pop-up menu. The link is analyzed in roughly two seconds and the page lists every video resolution YouTube offers for that video, plus the audio formats, each with an estimated file size.

3. Pick a format that your iPhone plays well

For video, choose MP4 at 720p or 1080p. Up to 1080p, Y-Download prefers H.264 video with AAC audio, which is the combination iOS plays natively, imports into Photos without complaint, and shares over AirDrop or iMessage cleanly. Higher resolutions (1440p, 4K) are only offered by YouTube in the VP9 and AV1 codecs. Y-Download keeps them as-is rather than re-encoding, but the Photos app may refuse to import them and older iPhones may struggle to play them. If you really want 4K on your iPhone, a player such as VLC handles it, and our video quality and codecs guide explains the trade-offs.

For audio only, choose MP3 320 kbps. The file arrives with the title, artist, and square cover art embedded, so it looks right in any music player.

4. Let Safari download the file

Tap Download. Y-Download prepares the file, shows live progress, and then hands it to Safari, which asks "Do you want to download ...?" Confirm, and a small download icon (an arrow inside a circle) appears near the address bar. Large 1080p files can take a couple of minutes on Wi-Fi, and they finish faster if you keep Safari in the foreground.

Where iPhone saves downloaded videos

Safari saves downloads to the Downloads folder in the Files app. Depending on your settings, that folder is either in iCloud Drive or in On My iPhone. You can check or change the location under Settings → Safari → Downloads (on iOS 18 and later it is Settings → Apps → Safari → Downloads). If you download large videos often and have little iCloud space, switching to On My iPhone avoids syncing every file to the cloud.

Tap a video in Files and it plays right there. MP3 files play in Files too, including in the background with the lock screen controls.

Moving the video to the Photos app

Files and Photos are separate on iOS, so a downloaded video does not appear in your camera roll automatically. To move it:

1. Open Files → Downloads and tap the video so it starts playing.
2. Tap the Share button.
3. Choose Save Video.

The video now appears in Photos under Recents and in the Videos album, and you can delete the copy in Files if you like. If Save Video is missing from the share sheet, the file is almost always a VP9 or AV1 download; go back and download the 1080p H.264 version instead.

Adding MP3s to your music library

The Files app is a perfectly good MP3 player, but if you want tracks in the Apple Music app you have to sync them from a Mac or PC with Finder or iTunes, because iOS does not let you import local files into the Music library directly. Alternatively, third-party players such as VLC can open MP3s straight from Files. The YouTube to MP3 converter page has more on choosing between 320 kbps and 128 kbps.

Troubleshooting

• Safari plays the video instead of downloading it. Go back and tap Download again; if a new tab with the video opens, tap Share in that tab and look for Save to Files.
• Nothing happens when I tap Download. Check that the file has not already finished by tapping the download icon near the address bar, and make sure Safari is not blocking pop-ups for the site.
• "Not enough storage". A 1080p video can be several hundred megabytes. Free space under Settings → General → iPhone Storage, or pick 720p.
• Video not available. Private, members-only, and age-restricted videos cannot be downloaded, and live streams only work after they end. Videos longer than four hours or files above 4 GB are also outside the limits.
• Using Chrome or Firefox on iPhone. Both work the same way; their downloads also end up in the Files app, in a Downloads folder or a folder named after the browser.

Download the file within 30 minutes of preparing it. After that it is deleted from Y-Download's servers, and you simply paste the link again.