Microsoft's YouTube Windows Phone 8 app arrives back in Store, gets video upload

Shortly after Microsoft released its native YouTube Windows Phone 8 app in early-May, Google sent the software giant a cease and desist letter, demanding the app's removal from Store. The reasons, according to the document, centered on three main features that Microsoft baked-in, namely content download, an ad-free user experience and forgoing playback restrictions. The app was pulled from Windows Phone Store in late-May, and replaced with the older iteration.

Good news! Late-yesterday, following a collaboration with Google, Microsoft quietly launched a compliant YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. "We've released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads", says Microsoft in a statement issued to me. "We appreciate Google's support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration".

And, just as I suspected, the latest offering brings a couple of noteworthy new features, among which the ability to upload content. Unsurprisingly, users will see in-app ads.

Videos can be shared on YouTube as public or private content, depending on the set privacy setting. Users have to agree to posting original content, and have the smartphone charging and connected to a Wi-Fi network, in order for the process to complete.

I have tested this feature by uploading a short clip, which I recorded using my Nokia Lumia 920. Users can choose the video category straight from the app, but will have to perform tweaks from the YouTube website control panel.

Microsoft also baked-in live video streaming, a feature which was previously unavailable in prior iterations and in other major third-party YouTube clients. The app also comes with search keyword suggestions and extends language support.

It is worth nothing that the ability to upload YouTube videos is not currently available in major third-party clients from Store, like Metrotube. Windows Phone content creators will have to install Microsoft's latest offering, for easy video uploads (without sending them through the provided email address).

YouTube is available to download from Windows Phone Store.