YouTube Gets iPhone-Only App Thanks To Google’s 20% Time Allowance

Mar 14, 2017 02:53 PM EDT

An iPhone is something that many people own these days, and you can bet your bottom dollar that many others more are looking forward to the release of the iPhone 8. In terms of available apps for the smartphone, no one is able to beat Apple at this point in time. Just take a look around the iTunes store and you will be able to get a better idea on what iTunes has for the masses. Google has a very unique way of encouraging their workforce, providing the much vaunted 20 percent time which enables employees to work on a side project of their choice one day out of each work week. There has been many notable projects in the past such as GMail, Google Maps and Adsense, that arose from this 20 percent time. One of the latest projects that surfaced from the 20 percent time? Uptime, an iPhone-only app that will allow the user to check out YouTube videos with family and friends.

Uptime is a unique app that is available on iTunes at the moment. It was developed by Area 120, and weighs in at a 75.7MB download which ain’t too shabby at all in this day and age. However, one will need to be at least 17 years of age before being able to download this particular app, requiring at least iOS 10.0 or later and will be compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. With Uptime, users are able to enjoy YouTube videos with remote friends, in addition to the ability to enjoy real-time comments and check out reactions on the double.

Uptime is definitely a welcome surprise in iTunes, taking into consideration how Google, which is the main driving force of Android, has decided to roll this out as an iPhone-only app for the moment. We are not going to discount the possibility that Uptime will be released on the Android platform not too far down the road, as it would be sacrilegious (in a way) not to do so. With Uptime, users are able to share and watch videos together with friends, or to share one’s favorite YouTube video and chat virtually with one another. Who would venture a guess that the future will see improvements made to Uptime that will allow voice interactions with all of the other viewers in real time, as opposed to just leaving comments?

Uptime is definitely a welcome addition apart from the YouTube app alone. Hopefully the functionality found in Uptime will eventually make its way into the official YouTube app down the road. After all, Google does own YouTube, too. In order to register to download Uptime for free from iTunes in the US, an invitation code is required. So far, “PIZZA” has been tested and it is good to go, so what are you waiting for?

Do leave your comments as to how this iPhone-only app that is known as Uptime fares in the comments section. We would love to hear from you, and whether your experience jives with ours.