For years YouTube and iOS app developers have been playing a cat and mouse game. Every few months an app will show up on the App Store that allows you to download videos from YouTube directly to your Camera Roll. Not long after that, the app will be removed from sale, either by the developer whose received a threat from YouTube or by Apple at the behest of the online video giant. There’s a long list of apps that have fallen victim (see Pro Tuber and most recently Pro Tube lost this feature). The inherent problem isn’t one that’s going to go away anytime soon. If only there were a way to toggle this ability in an app only after it’s been downloaded from the App Store. That way it would pass Apple’s review guidelines and it would be in the hands of users to enable the feature. Well, that’s exactly what the app Workflow does.

Workflow is an automation app that allows it’s users to build processes that the iPhone will run every time you press a button. So basically the app is empty when you download it and you can build your own workflows afterward. You can also easily import workflows other people have created themselves. The supporting community is where Workflow shines! And, you guessed it, someone has built a workflow to download videos from YouTube to your Camera Roll.

After installing the app on your iPhone or iPad, you can download the YouTube workflow here.

If the above Workflow doesn’t work for you, there are a number of updated versions of workflows that download YouTube videos. One of the other ones might work better for you. You can find the different versions people have built here: http://www.workflow-vcs.de/search/Youtube

We’ve put together this video showing you how to do it. Take a look! And if you have any comments, please leave them below. You can also check out our entire review of the Workflow app here.

ShortcutsApple Inc.ProductivityFreeDownload