Tiny app YouTube Go spreads around the world

Increasingly, streaming video is becoming the primary way a lot of people get news and entertainment around the world. What if you live in an area where that isn't viable, whether it's due to slow internet speeds or low data caps? Google thinks it may have found a solution in YouTube Go, which is launched late last year.

YouTube Go was initially launched in India as a solution to curb data usage in emerging markets. Shortly after that, Google brought the app online in 14 more countries, and today, Google is expanding that by a whopping 130 countries. Talk about explosive expansion.

One of the key features of YouTube Go is the ability to download videos to watch when you don't have a stable internet connection. YouTube also limited video quality options to "basic" or "standard" at first, with the idea being that lower video quality was more important than having high-quality videos eat up a ton of data. With this global roll out, however, Google has had a change of heart, and it will now let YouTube Go users choose to watch videos in high quality.

Another key feature is being able to share videos with other YouTube Go users over Bluetooth. That feature is getting some improvements as well, with Google adding an share option directly to the homepage of YouTube Go. You can also now share multiple videos at once, which Google says was a feature that users requested often.

Google doesn't list the 130 countries that are receiving YouTube Go today in its announcement, but there's a fairly easy way to check. You can head over to the Google Play Store and see if it'll let you install the app on any your Android devices (sorry iOS users, this is an Android-only app for the time being). Unfortunately, there aren't any plans to make the app available in places like the US, Canada, or the UK at the moment, so those of us living in countries with developed wireless networks will have to continue using regular old YouTube for now.