On: YouTube Go: YouTube reimagined for the next genera...

[teach]

In my opinion, default offline vs default online is a HUGE architectural difference. You could probably try to hack it into the existing player, but it wouldn't work well.

A ground-up rewrite wouldn't surprise me at all for such a change.

[skylarsch → teach]

The YouTube app proper can play offline videos already. The catch is, you have to have a YouTube Red subscription.

I don't think it's a technical issue at all, but a "people pay for this feature wherever YouTube Red is available" issue.

[ksk → teach]

It is not default offline at all. http://www.youtubego.com/signup/

From the screenshots, it looks to be trivial functionality that could be baked into the existing app. Besides the ability to download and play files is not something I consider to be a "HUGE" architectural change.