YouTube for Android may get SD card support for Smart Downloads (v20.45.32)

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Key Points of This Article

• In the future, “Smart Downloads” to an SD card may become possible on devices that support SD cards.
• An analysis of the in-app code from the Android “YouTube” app v20.45.32 update revealed that descriptions related to specifying an SD card for “Smart Downloads” have been added.
• It also appears that it will be possible to set the allocated storage capacity for the specified SD card.

Google’s video service, “YouTube,” offers a feature for paid “YouTube Premium” members called “Smart Downloads.” This feature automatically selects recommended videos based on the user’s viewing history and downloads them as temporary videos for offline playback.

Currently, “Smart Downloads” are saved to the device’s local internal storage by default. However, in the future, it may become possible to download them to an SD card on supported devices.

An analysis of the in-app code from the Android “YouTube” app v20.45.32 update, which was distributed around Thursday, November 6, 2025, has revealed the addition of code related to specifying an SD card for “Smart Downloads” and setting the allocated storage for the designated SD card.

<public type="string" name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_label_sd_card" id="0x7f140a94" />
    <public type="string" name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_legend_download_label" id="0x7f140a95" />
    <public type="string" name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_legend_sd_allocation" id="0x7f140a96" />

<string name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_label_sd_card">SD card</string>
    <string name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_legend_download_label">Downloads</string>
    <string name="pref_offline_smart_download_storage_legend_sd_allocation">SD card allocation</string>

The setting to use an SD card for “Smart Downloads” has not been officially rolled out yet, but it may be launched soon.

“YouTube” App Link