Play is an app for saving YouTube videos that you want to watch later

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Play On Ipad
Play On Ipad (Image credit: Marcos Tanaka)

What you need to know

  • Play is an iPhone, iPad, and Mac app for saving YouTube videos to be watched later.
  • Videos can be saved with tags and then searched and filtered as required.
  • Shortcuts support allows for workflow automation and more.

Play is a new app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that lets you save YouTube videos for watching later and features support for tagging, sorting, filtering, and more.

While it's true that YouTube already has ways for you to save videos to be watched later, there is a better way that can be downloaded via the App Store today. Play is an app that lets you save videos to be watched later in a similar way to read later apps — but for videos. And while Play doesn't actually download the videos for offline viewing it will save that all-important URL, ready to be launched.

When video links are saved you can assign tags for easier searching and sorting, and support for shortcuts means that you can automate things including video retrieval and more. All of your saved videos sync from iPhone to iPad to Mac and back again thanks to the support for iCloud as well.

Importantly, getting videos into Play is as simple as can be.

Videos can be imported, added via the Share Sheet, or via drag and drop. Users can view them in a list, grid, or table (macOS), search, filter, sort, and organize using tags. iCloud keeps everything up-to-date on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Add and customize a few widgets to have YouTube on your Home Screen, and start watching with a single tap.

Those using iPhones and iPads can have their videos appear on their Home screens thanks to widgets, too. All of this and more make this one of the best iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps for people who want to collect lists of YouTube videos. Whether those lists are just to make sure you don't forget a video or any other reason, Play is a must-have app for big YouTube watchers.

Play can be downloaded from the App Store for a one-time fee of just $1.99 today. That price gets you all three versions of the app as well.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.