Download APK YouTube Music What’s New, Storage Requirements & Review

I opened YouTube Music on a Monday morning with a simple question in mind: could one music app replace the two I was juggling, one for songs I already loved and one for everything I kept discovering through videos? The home screen gave me a quick answer. It showed a mix built around my own taste, a row of new releases, a playlist I had made the week before, and a radio station that started from a single song I had played to death. I pressed play, put the phone in my pocket, and walked to the bus stop. By the time I sat down, the app had moved from a song I knew to a live version I had never heard, then to a cover by an artist I did not know. That is the whole pitch of YouTube Music in one commute: it knows the songs, and it also knows the videos, the live versions, the remixes and the covers that live around them.

This review covers what is new, how much space the app actually needs, how offline mode and audio quality work in real life, and whether the free plan or the Premium plan fits the way you listen. I tested it on my own phone for several weeks, on Wi-Fi at home, on mobile data on the bus, and offline on a flight, with a library that mixes albums, singles, playlists and a long list of liked songs. The numbers in this article are the ones that matter when you decide: install size, audio quality in kilobits per second, how much space a downloaded song takes, and how long an offline playlist lasts before it needs a connection again.

That said, YouTube Music is not the right app for everyone, and this review will not pretend otherwise. If you want the largest catalogue of podcasts, the deepest social features, or the most polished desktop app, another service may suit you better. If you watch music videos, love live recordings, or already live inside the YouTube world, this app has an advantage no rival can copy easily. Read the sections that match your question, check the tables for the numbers, and try the free plan for a week before you pay for anything.

What Is New in YouTube Music Right Now

YouTube Music changes in small steps rather than big relaunches, and the recent updates follow that pattern. The home screen now leans harder on personal mixes, with separate shelves for new releases, songs you have on repeat, and moods such as focus, workout and evening listening. The search bar now accepts humming or singing a tune, which sounds like a party trick until you use it to find a song whose title you have forgotten for three years. I hummed a chorus on a walk, the app offered three matches, and the second one was the song I had been trying to remember since breakfast. It is not perfect, and it struggles with songs you hum badly, but when it works it feels like a small piece of magic.

Another useful addition is the Samples tab, a short-video feed of song clips you can swipe through to discover new music. Each clip is about thirty seconds long, and a tap takes you to the full song, the album, or a radio station built around it. I treat Samples the way I treat a record shop listening post: ten minutes of swiping, two or three saves, and then I go back to music I already like. The app also keeps improving its lyrics view, its queue handling, and the way it moves between audio and video for the same track. That last feature, switching from the song to its official video with one tap, is the one I show people first, because it makes the link between YouTube and YouTube Music visible in two seconds.

How does the hum-to-search feature work in practice?

Open search, tap the microphone icon, choose the hum option, and hum, sing or whistle the tune for ten to fifteen seconds. The app compares the melody with its catalogue and shows the closest matches, usually three to five songs, with the most likely match at the top. In my tests it found the right song about seven times out of ten when I hummed a clear chorus, and about half the time when I only remembered the verse. Background noise hurts it, so use it in a quiet room rather than on a busy street. It is a good tool for a song stuck in your head, and a poor tool for a song you barely remember at all.

What changed in the home screen and mixes?

The home screen now groups your listening into clearer shelves: a daily mix, a new-release shelf, a replay shelf of songs you keep returning to, and mood mixes for workouts, focus and relaxing evenings. Your liked songs sit one tap away, and your library keeps albums, playlists, artists and downloaded songs in separate tabs so you can find a saved album without scrolling through everything else. The change sounds small, and it is, but it cut the time I spend looking for something to play from about a minute to about fifteen seconds, which is the difference between listening and giving up.

What is the Samples tab, and is it worth your time?

The Samples tab is a vertical feed of short music clips, built for discovery rather than for listening to full songs. You swipe up for the next clip, tap to save a song, or tap again to open the full track. I use it in short bursts, usually while waiting for something, and I save anything that makes me stop swiping. The catch is that ten minutes of swiping can turn into thirty if you are not careful, so I set a quiet rule for myself: three saves, then I close the tab and listen to one of the songs properly. Discovery is only useful if it ends in listening.

YouTube Music Storage Requirements and Install Size Explained

Storage is the question that decides whether YouTube Music fits on a crowded phone, so here are the numbers plainly. The app itself installs at roughly 30 to 60 MB on Android, depending on your phone and the version you install, which is small for a music app and smaller than many games. That install size is only the start. The app also keeps a cache of artwork, recently played songs and search data, usually a few hundred megabytes after a month of daily use, and any songs you save for offline listening add to that total. A phone with 64 GB of total space can run YouTube Music comfortably. A phone with 32 GB needs a little care, and a phone with 16 GB will need you to manage downloads tightly.

How much space does a downloaded song take? At the standard quality of 128 kbps, a three-minute song takes about 3 MB. At the high quality of 256 kbps, the same song takes about 6 MB. At the low quality of 48 kbps, it takes about 1 MB. That means one hundred songs take roughly 300 MB at standard quality, 600 MB at high quality, and 100 MB at low quality. A playlist of five hundred songs at high quality takes about 3 GB, which is enough to matter on a full phone. I keep my main offline playlist at standard quality and reserve high quality for the twenty albums I love most, which keeps my total offline use under 1 GB.

How much free space do you need before you install?

Keep at least 500 MB free before you install, and at least 1 GB free if you plan to save music offline. The app needs room for the install, for its cache, and for the first batch of downloads, and Android itself gets unhappy when free space drops below a few hundred megabytes. If your phone warns you about space, clear the cache of apps you rarely use, delete old videos, and move photos to a backup before you blame YouTube Music. In practice, the app is not the problem on most phones. The problem is the five games and the two thousand photos sharing the same small amount of space.

How to check and clear YouTube Music space on your phone

Open your phone Settings, then Apps, then YouTube Music, then Storage, and you will see the app size, the user data and the cache as three separate numbers. Clearing the cache removes temporary artwork and recently played data, and it does not delete your downloaded songs. Clearing all data removes your downloads too, so do not tap that option unless you are ready to download everything again. Inside the app itself, go to your profile picture, then Settings, then Downloads and storage, where you can see how much space your downloads use and set a limit for the smart downloads feature described below.

Does YouTube Music use more space than Spotify?

The two apps are close in size. Spotify installs at a similar 30 to 60 MB, and a downloaded song takes a similar amount of space at a similar quality, because the maths of audio files does not change between apps. The difference is in the extras. YouTube Music can also cache video, which takes far more space than audio, so a few music videos saved for offline viewing can add hundreds of megabytes quickly. Spotify has no video catalogue to cache, so its total stays more predictable. If space is tight, turn off video downloads in YouTube Music, keep audio quality at standard, and set a download limit. That combination keeps the app close to Spotify in size while keeping the video advantage for the times you actually want it.

YouTube Music Offline Mode, Downloads and Smart Downloads

Offline mode is the feature that matters most on a plane, on a train, or anywhere the signal drops, and YouTube Music handles it well once you set it up before you need it. A Premium subscription lets you save songs, albums and playlists for offline listening, and you can choose the quality of those downloads separately from the quality you stream at. I download my main playlist the night before a flight, on Wi-Fi, at standard quality, and I check that the download badge shows a full tick before I leave the house. That one check has saved me from a silent flight more than once.

Smart downloads is the automatic version of the same idea. Turn it on, and the app saves a rotating set of songs based on what you listen to most, up to a limit you set, usually 100 or 500 songs, whenever your phone is on Wi-Fi and charging overnight. I set mine to 100 songs, which takes about 300 MB at standard quality, and I let it refresh itself. The songs it picks are usually right, because they are the songs I actually played last week, not the songs an algorithm thinks I should like. The catch is that smart downloads can surprise you with its space use if you set the limit high, so check the number in Settings, Downloads and storage, and keep it at 100 unless you have room to spare.

How long do offline songs stay available?

Downloaded songs stay on your phone as long as your Premium subscription is active and you connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. That connection is how the app checks that your subscription is still live. If you go offline for longer than 30 days, the downloads stop playing until you reconnect, even though the files are still on your phone. In practice this is rarely a problem, because most people connect to Wi-Fi at least once a month, but it is worth knowing before a long trip with no internet at all. Download what you need, reconnect once a month, and the system works quietly in the background.

Can you listen offline on the free plan?

No, offline downloads need a Premium subscription. The free plan lets you listen with ads, with the app open, on Wi-Fi or mobile data, but it does not let you save songs or play them with the screen off. That limit is the clearest line between the two plans, and it is the reason I pay for Premium: I listen most on the move, with the phone in my pocket, and a free plan that stops when the screen goes dark does not fit that habit. If you only listen at a desk, with the app open and Wi-Fi nearby, the free plan may be enough, and you should try it for two weeks before you decide.

YouTube Music Audio Quality: 48, 128 and 256 kbps Compared

Audio quality in YouTube Music comes in three main levels, and the choice is a trade between sound, data and space. Low quality runs at about 48 kbps, normal quality at about 128 kbps, and high quality at about 256 kbps. The app also offers an always-high option that picks the best available stream. On cheap earbuds on a bus, I cannot tell normal from high, and the difference is not worth the extra data. On good headphones in a quiet room, high quality sounds fuller, with clearer cymbals and a little more air around the vocals. Low quality is fine for a podcast-style listen or for saving data, but music loses its sparkle, and I would not use it for an album I love.

Here is the setting I actually use, after trying all of them for a week each. Streaming on mobile data is set to normal, streaming on Wi-Fi is set to high, and downloads are set to normal. That combination uses about 58 MB of mobile data per hour, sounds good on the earbuds I actually own, and keeps my offline library under 1 GB. If you have unlimited mobile data and good headphones, set everything to high and enjoy it. If your data plan is small, set mobile streaming to low and downloads to normal, and let Wi-Fi do the heavy work. The setting lives under your profile picture, then Settings, then Data saving and audio quality, and it takes thirty seconds to change.

Does 256 kbps sound better than 128 kbps on a phone?

On most phones with the earbuds that came in the box, the difference is small, and many listeners will not notice it in a blind test. On wired headphones or good wireless earbuds, in a quiet room, the difference is real but modest: high quality sounds a touch cleaner on cymbals, acoustic guitar and quiet vocals, while normal quality can sound slightly flat on the same passages. The bigger difference is not the bitrate but the recording itself. A well-recorded album at 128 kbps sounds better than a poor recording at 256 kbps, every time. Do not chase numbers. Chase the setting that sounds good on your ears, with your headphones, in the places you actually listen.

YouTube Music Free vs Premium: What You Actually Get

The free plan and the Premium plan are the same app with different rules, and the difference comes down to four things: ads, background play, offline downloads, and audio-only mode. On the free plan you hear ads between songs, the music stops when you lock the screen or switch apps, you cannot save songs offline, and you cannot always pick the exact song you want on demand in every context. On Premium, the ads go away, music keeps playing with the screen off, downloads work, and you can play any song, album or playlist on demand. Premium also removes ads from YouTube itself when you buy the full YouTube Premium bundle, which is a separate plan that includes YouTube Music Premium as part of the package.

Prices change by country and by offer, so check the current plan page before you pay, but the shape of the choice stays the same everywhere. An individual plan covers one person. A family plan covers up to six people in one household for a higher monthly price. A student plan costs less with a valid student check. I pay for the individual plan, and the value for me is the background play and the offline downloads, which together cover every hour I actually listen. If you listen mostly at home, on Wi-Fi, with the app open, the free plan may serve you well for months. If you listen on the move, in the car, on a run, or on a flight, Premium pays for itself in the first week.

Is YouTube Music Premium worth it if you already pay for Spotify?

Paying for two music services at once rarely makes sense, so pick the one that fits your habits and cancel the other. Choose YouTube Music Premium if you watch music videos, love live versions and covers, already pay for YouTube Premium, or want the hum-to-search trick. Choose Spotify if you want the widest podcast catalogue, the most polished social sharing, or the best desktop app. I kept YouTube Music because the video catalogue and the live recordings matter to me more than the podcast library, and because my listening starts from songs I saw on YouTube. Your answer may be the opposite, and that is fine. Try each free plan for two weeks, count the hours you actually listen, and keep the one that earned those hours.

YouTube Music vs Spotify: A Fair Comparison

YouTube Music and Spotify are the two apps most readers will choose between, and the honest answer is that both are good, and the right one depends on what you listen to and how you listen. Spotify has the larger podcast library, a more mature social layer with collaborative playlists and friend activity, and a desktop app that feels more finished. YouTube Music has the video catalogue, the live recordings, the remixes and covers that only exist on YouTube, and a recommendation engine that learns from both your music and your video watching. The table below lines them up on the points that decided it for me.

That said, the gap between the two is smaller than the arguments online suggest. Both apps play the same hit songs, both make good playlists, and both cost about the same per month in most countries. The deciding factor is usually a single feature you cannot get elsewhere. For me it was the live version of a song I had loved for years, a recording that exists on YouTube and nowhere else, and which YouTube Music played in two taps. For a friend of mine it was a podcast that only exists on Spotify. Find your one feature, test it on the free plan, and let that decide. If you want a different kind of app to compare, Grindr is a natural next app to try for a different angle on daily apps, and Hootsuite covers that need neatly if you manage social posts. Threads is worth a look as well for short social updates.

YouTube Music Pros, Cons and Who It Is For

What are the main pros of YouTube Music?

• Huge catalogue with video. About 100 million songs plus official videos, live versions, remixes and covers that other music apps do not carry.
• Smart recommendations that learn fast. The home screen, the mixes and the radio stations get noticeably better after two weeks of real listening.
• Good offline mode on Premium. Downloads, smart downloads and a 30-day check make flights and dead zones easy to handle.
• Useful discovery tools. Hum to search, the Samples tab and the switch from audio to video all help you find music you would otherwise miss.
• Fair audio quality for the price. High quality at 256 kbps sounds good on the headphones most people actually own.

What are the main cons of YouTube Music?

• The free plan stops when the screen locks, which makes it hard to use on the move without paying for Premium.
• Podcasts are still thinner than on Spotify, and the podcast experience feels less finished.
• Video caching can eat phone space quickly if you save videos offline without checking the setting.
• Some features, such as hum to search, work well only in quiet places and with a clear tune.

Who is YouTube Music for?

YouTube Music fits anyone who watches music videos, collects live recordings, already spends time on YouTube, or wants one app for songs and the videos around them. It fits commuters who need offline mode, gym listeners who want a workout mix that updates itself, and people who discover music through clips and covers rather than through albums alone. It fits less well if podcasts are your main listening, if you need background play without paying, or if your friends all share playlists on another service and you want to join them. I kept it because my listening starts on YouTube and ends on YouTube Music, and the app respects that loop instead of fighting it.

YouTube Music FAQ and Final Verdict

How much space does YouTube Music need on Android?

The app installs at roughly 30 to 60 MB, and its cache usually grows to a few hundred megabytes after a month of daily use. Downloaded songs add about 3 MB per song at normal quality and about 6 MB per song at high quality, so one hundred songs take about 300 MB at normal quality and about 600 MB at high quality. Keep at least 1 GB free on your phone if you plan to save music offline, and check Settings, then Apps, then YouTube Music, then Storage, if you want the exact number on your own device.

Can I use YouTube Music without a Premium subscription?

Yes, the free plan lets you listen with ads, on Wi-Fi or mobile data, with the app open. You cannot play music with the screen off, you cannot save songs offline, and you cannot always pick an exact song on demand in every part of the app. If you listen mostly at a desk with the app open, the free plan is a fair way to test the catalogue for two weeks. If you listen on the move, Premium is the plan that fits, because background play and downloads are the two features that matter most away from a desk.

What audio quality should I pick for downloads?

Pick normal quality at 128 kbps if you want a good balance of sound and space, and pick high quality at 256 kbps if you have good headphones and room to spare. Low quality at 48 kbps is best kept for saving mobile data on a small plan. Set streaming and downloads separately in Settings, under Data saving and audio quality, so your downloads can be higher quality than your mobile streams. I use normal for downloads and high for Wi-Fi streaming, which keeps my offline library under 1 GB while sounding good at home.

Does YouTube Music work offline on a flight?

Yes, if you save songs, albums or playlists before the flight while you have Wi-Fi, and your Premium subscription is active. Open the app once before you board, check that the download tick is complete, and switch the app to offline mode in Settings if you want to be sure it will not try to stream. Downloads stay playable as long as you connect to the internet at least once every 30 days, so a flight of a few hours is no problem at all. I do this before every flight, and it has worked every time.

My final verdict is that YouTube Music is the best music app for anyone whose listening starts on YouTube, and a strong all-round choice for everyone else who wants good recommendations, fair audio quality and reliable offline mode. Try the free plan for two weeks, save one playlist offline on a Premium trial if you can, and listen to a live version you cannot find anywhere else. If you are ready to try it, Click here to download the YouTube Music app and start with the home mix it builds for you. For a different app to explore next, Click here to download the Grindr app, or Click here to download the Hootsuite app if you manage social posts.