Roku 3 finally gets a YouTube app, operates similar to Chromecast

Announced on the official Roku blog earlier today, owners of the Roku 3 can now access a new, official YouTube application on the streaming set-top box. Definitely one of the biggest applications that's been absent from the versatile hardware, the YouTube application is exclusive to the Roku 3 for the moment. Support for previous versions of the Roku hardware is still in the works, but performance on those devices will be dependent on software advances due to the limited hardware functionality of older devices.

Interestingly, this official YouTube app from Google somewhat undercuts the Google Chromecast hardware, specifically because the Roku 3 functions identically with the YouTube mobile app. Users can browse videos on their smartphones and tablets, queue up the content and use the 'Send to TV' feature to watch the videos on the big screen.

However, there's also a search tool within the main application as well as a large quantity of popular categories in order to encourage content discovery. The most useful category is easily the Trending section, an ideal area to find that viral video that seems to be today's topic of conversation among friends and family.

Performance is surprisingly fast as well, perhaps even more impressive than the Web version of YouTube. Videos pop up in high definition almost immediately, both through the application interface as well as the mobile YouTube app.

Pairing a mobile device is designed to be simple as well, basically just requiring the user to input a nine digit number sequence or scan a QR code displayed on the screen. Users can also log into the YouTube application using their Google account, perfect for automatically adding subscribed channels to the Roku interface.

Definitely ideal timing for Roku, the company will now be able to offer YouTube as an official feature to anyone that receives the streaming set-top box as a Christmas gift. Prior to this point, applications like Plex were able to send YouTube videos to the Roku 3. However, it's unlikely that users will continue to utilize those apps due to the feature-heavy, user-friendly design of the new YouTube application.

Be aware that adding the YouTube application to your Roku 3 will first require an update to the device's latest software version. This update can be accessed within the Settings menu. Besides the channel menu on the Roku 3, you can also find and add the new YouTube channel here.