Instead of having a native desktop client, YouTube Music uses a Progressive Web App (PWA). There is a possibility that YouTube Music’s website will soon support offline downloading.
YouTube Music website users have discovered a “Downloads” tab when accessing music.youtube.com without an internet connection. The tab says “Music and podcasts you download will appear here” with filters for playlists, podcasts, songs and albums.
This suggests YouTube Music is testing the ability to download and save songs from its website for offline listening. The downloads feature is not fully functional yet and only shows placeholder text. But it seems to be a recent addition, possibly including podcast downloads too.
To trigger the downloads tab, users need to load the YouTube Music website and then disable their WiFi. This hints that offline downloads on desktop may launch soon. Downloads will likely require a YouTube Premium subscription, as with the app. But it’s unclear if podcasts would need a paid membership.
Being able to download from the YouTube Music website would be a big convenience, as many users solely access it from their computers. The feature seems aimed at creating a similar offline experience to the YouTube Music app.
Stay tuned for updates on if and when YouTube Music enables this long-requested download ability right within your web browser. It could make the website almost as full-featured as having a dedicated desktop app.
