How to: Watch HQ YouTube Video over 3G

[Massie]

This came up in another thread during a discussion about data limits; rather than hijacking that thread any further, I thought we could start a new one for a tip that often goes overlooked.

The conversation from the original thread:

You can watch HQ YouTube videos just fine with normal 3G without the unrestrictor.

May I ask how? Everything I read said it was not available on 3G. Nor could I find any settings for it. Thanks.

You can NOT view HQ videos on 3G with out jail breaking.

The answer is that you can watch HQ over 3G, but for many people it will mean a change in how they access YouTube on their iPhone. Here is my original response, which will hopefully help someone who might be looking for a solution to this small but annoying issue:

Sure you can. Just use the mobile site: How to Watch HD YouTube Videos over 3G on iPhone | iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

And use this trick so that YouTube links alwaysopen in mobile Safari instead of opening the YouTube app: iOS Tip: Speeding Up YouTube | jack john brown

Here's a screenshot; all you need to do to turn HQ on or off is tap the red HQ button. Notice I'm on 3G.

Final tip: bookmark the YouTube mobile site with a Home Screen icon, and you'll have a pretty full-featured replacement for the native app!

 

[Lodingi]

That's a great tip. Thanks for sharing. I'm really curious as to why Apple restricts the 3G data coming into the device.

Not only was YouTube horrible to use, iTunes Match and any device that needs data, would stutter and buffer constantly. I never experienced this on my Android devices.

I jail broke my 4s and installed 3G Unrestrictor. I can now play HQ videos on YouTube and play my cloud based music files without any hiccups.


Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

 

[Totalimmortal363]

Apple devices are designed to be as network friendly as possible. Android devices consume copious amounts of data while the iPhone is designed to do it's major damage on Wifi.

 

[Massie]

That does make sense, but I wish they made it easier for users who WANT to use the fuller versions to do so. The part that doesn't make sense to me is why the native YouTube app was always so slow?even on wifi. Easily half of the videos I tried to watch would require continual rebuffering with the app. As soon as I switched to the mobile site those same videos were lightning fast.

 

[Lodingi]

Apple devices are designed to be as network friendly as possible. Android devices consume copious amounts of data while the iPhone is designed to do it's major damage on Wifi.

That's all well & good, but if that's the thinking, then there is no need for faster networks like HSPA+ or LTE.

 

[disflipissofresh]

That does make sense, but I wish they made it easier for users who WANT to use the fuller versions to do so. The part that doesn't make sense to me is why the native YouTube app was always so slow?even on wifi. Easily half of the videos I tried to watch would require continual rebuffering with the app. As soon as I switched to the mobile site those same videos were lightning fast.

Reason why YouTube app was slow sometimes even on wifi is because the app is true "HD" while the mobile site is only "HQ"

Compare between the two and you'll see..

 

[sting7k]

This came up in another thread during a discussion about data limits; rather than hijacking that thread any further, I thought we could start a new one for a tip that often goes overlooked.

The conversation from the original thread:






The answer is that you can watch HQ over 3G, but for many people it will mean a change in how they access YouTube on their iPhone. Here is my original response, which will hopefully help someone who might be looking for a solution to this small but annoying issue:

Sure you can. Just use the mobile site: How to Watch HD YouTube Videos over 3G on iPhone | iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

And use this trick so that YouTube links alwaysopen in mobile Safari instead of opening the YouTube app: iOS Tip: Speeding Up YouTube | jack john brown

Here's a screenshot; all you need to do to turn HQ on or off is tap the red HQ button. Notice I'm on 3G.

Click to view quoted image


Final tip: bookmark the YouTube mobile site with a Home Screen icon, and you'll have a pretty full-featured replacement for the native app!

How often do you get throttled?

 

[3under2]

Thank you so much for the tips .


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Massie]

How often do you get throttled?

I've never been throttled, but I don't watch a ton of video either.