YouTube app goes iPad, adds AirPlay, iPhone 5 support

Following up on its sweet Gmail refresh earlier today, Google’s just announced with a post over at the official YouTube blog a long-expected update to its nice YouTube iPhone app. For starters, the program finally runs on the iPad natively, which means you can now search for kitten videos using your beloved tablet and enjoy them in high-definition on that beautiful 9.7-inch Retina display.

The software also takes full advantage of the iPhone 5’s bigger display and lets you stream YouTube clips to your badass TV through the Apple TV hockey puck and using AirPlay, a wireless media streaming technology from Apple. Accessibility, video playback improvements and other perks come included with the package. But first things first…

As is the case with the overhauled Gmail iOS app, the new YouTube software sports a brand spanking new app icon.

It’s nicer and way prettier, no?

Noting that a quarter of all YouTube watching happens on mobile, Google wrote in a blog post that the standalone YouTube app, which hit the iPhone back in September after Apple removed its stock counterpart with the release of iOS 6, “made us the #1 free app in the App Store for two months”.

Well congrats, dear Googlers!

This is how YouTube runs on the iPhone 5, taking full advantage of the taller display.

The real winner here is the new native iPad interface.

It’s just gorgeous, have a look.

Other features include faster start up times for videos, better playlist management, tappable links in video description, smoother playback and improved accessibility with VoiceOver.

The new YouTube app, now a universal binary, is provided free of charge.

Grab it right now and let us know what you think in the comments bellow.

With Gmail and YouTube updates off our backs, can we now have that Google Maps app, please?