Built for watchOS

YouTube,
on your wrist.

YTWatch is a standalone player for YouTube built for Apple Watch. Browse, search and play videos straight from your wrist over Wi‑Fi or cellular. Your iPhone can stay in your pocket — or at home.

4.0 · 53 ratings watchOS 11.4+ Free with optional Premium
Apple Watch running YTWatch, showing the Trending screen with Now, Music and Gaming category tabs above a video thumbnail
Truly standalone

No iPhone required.

Most watch apps are a remote control for your phone. YTWatch isn't. It talks to YouTube directly from the watch, so it keeps working when your phone doesn't come along.

Wi‑Fi or cellular

Streams over whatever connection your watch has. On a cellular model, that's anywhere you have signal.

iPhone optional

Browsing and playback never need your phone nearby. Sign in once on iPhone and everything follows you to the wrist.

Made for going light

Workouts, commutes, a run around the block — anywhere carrying a phone is one thing too many.

Everything you need to watch

A full YouTube client, sized for a watch.

Not a stripped-down viewer. Explore, search, channels, comments and full playback controls — all reworked for a screen you look at for six seconds at a time.

Explore

Trending videos by category — Music, Gaming, News, Sports, Fashion and more — with optimized thumbnails and live API data.

Search

Fast full-library search across videos, channels and playlists, with auto-complete, filters for date, duration and relevance, plus voice search via Siri.

Channels

Complete channel pages: subscriber and video counts, trailers, descriptions, sorting by newest or most popular, and one-tap subscribe.

Full playback controls

Play and pause, seek, playback speed, resolution and volume — with the Digital Crown for precise scrubbing.

Video details

Title, description, upload date, view count, creator info, engagement metrics, tags and category — everything at a glance.

Comments

Read threads with replies, like counts and author profiles — and post your own when you're signed in.

Local watch history

Recently watched videos stay on the watch so you can pick one back up instantly. It never leaves your device.

Shorts & livestreams

The Shorts shelf and live content show up right in the feed, playable without leaving the app.

Sign in once

It's your YouTube, not a generic feed.

Sign in with your Google account on iPhone and everything carries over to the watch. Sign-in uses Google's official OAuth flow — YTWatch never sees your password.

  • Home feed — personalized recommendations with infinite scroll, a Shorts shelf and livestreams.
  • Subscriptions — your channel list, latest uploads, activity indicators and quick unsubscribe.
  • Playlists — create and manage them on the watch, synced with every other device you use YouTube on.
  • Liked videos — your whole collection, in sync.
  • Like, subscribe, comment — act on a video from the wrist, not just watch it.
Apple Watch running YTWatch, showing the Subscriptions list with channel avatars and new-video badges
Designed for Apple Watch

Every pixel earns its place.

A wrist is not a small phone. The whole interface was rebuilt around glanceable reading, one-handed control and battery you still have at 6pm.

Wrist-first interface

Large touch targets, generous type and haptic feedback on every meaningful action.

Digital Crown support

Scrub through a video frame by frame and set volume without a finger over the screen.

Tuned for battery

Smart loading and caching keep the radio quiet and the thumbnails light.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Do I really not need my iPhone?
Correct — for browsing and playback. YTWatch requests YouTube directly from the watch over Wi‑Fi or cellular. You do sign in once on iPhone; after that the phone can stay behind.
Is this the official YouTube app?
No. YTWatch is an independent, unofficial third-party client built on YouTube API Services. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by YouTube, Google LLC or Apple Inc. All video content is hosted and controlled by YouTube and its creators.
Which devices does it run on?
Apple Watch with watchOS 11.4 or later. The companion app requires iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 on Apple silicon, or visionOS 2.
Does it work on a cellular Apple Watch away from Wi‑Fi?
Yes. On a cellular model, YTWatch streams over your watch's own data connection wherever you have signal.
Can I download videos for offline playback?
No. Videos are streamed through YouTube's player, and downloading or extracting content isn't supported — that's a requirement of YouTube's Terms of Service.
What data do you collect?
Effectively none. YTWatch uses no analytics services and no advertising or tracking SDKs. Sign-in tokens are stored on your device, your watch history stays local, and none of your YouTube data is copied to any server of ours. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.
How do I cancel a subscription or get a refund?
Cancel any time in your App Store account settings. Refunds are handled by Apple, not by us — request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Something's broken. How do I reach you?
Email support@ytwatch.app. It's a one-person project, so please include your watch model, watchOS version and what you were doing — it genuinely speeds things up.

Leave the phone. Keep the feed.

YTWatch is free to download, with a 7-day Premium trial. Nothing to configure — sign in once and go.