Google rolls out new iPhone app: YouTube Capture

Google on Monday released a brand new software to simplify the process of uploading videos to YouTube from your iPhone or iPod touch. Dubbed YouTube Capture and provided as a free download from the App Store, the app lets you record and touch up videos with color correction, stabilization, trimming and the ability to add free music tracks from YouTube prior to uploading your finished work. Moreover, you can upload to Google+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube simultaneously…

I like the refined look and feel of YouTube Capture that’s reminiscent of Google’s design language evident in the recently updated Gmail, Maps, Chrome, YouTube and Google+ apps.

So, how’s this latest addition to Google’s arsenal of iOS apps useful?

As you know, uploading clips to YouTube from iOS devices entails the use of the Photos app that supports YouTube as an option in the Sharing Sheet. Those that have used it can attest to at times erratic behavior as YouTube uploads can get slow and unreliable.

Google’s new app promises to take the pain out of prepping your clips for YouTube.

Unfortunately, the program doesn’t support iPads natively, though the ability to upload to YouTube, Google+, Facebook and Twitter simultaneously is a nice bonus.

According to Google’s blog post, the search firm is “also working to bring this to Android in the future”. More interesting that that, all uploads occur in the background:

Even if you minimize the app, the video will keep uploading in the background. You can control who sees your video by setting it to private (only you can view it), unlisted (only people with a link to the video can view it), or public (to let it shine to the world).

Color correction and stabilization are also available on existing videos on your device. Plus, “you can always undo enhancements later on YouTube.com”.

And now, a major downer: app settings won’t let you set the quality of uploads to full 1080p as only 720p is supported. We’re not sure whether that’s by design or a major oversight, but we sure hope Google will address this omission in a future update.

A nice feature: you can tell the app to start recording automatically when your device is in landscape orientation.

Now, if only Google rolled the YouTube Capture and YouTube apps into one universal binary supporting all form factor iOS devices, the world would be a much better place.

Have you tried this new app yet?

If so, what did you think of it?