In the last week of March, YouTube videos were restricted to 480p on mobile phones. This decision was taken keeping in mind that the lockdown would increase the viewers on YouTube dramatically. The increased load on the YouTube servers could be an issue which is why the maximum resolution on mobile phones was restricted to 480p at the end of March.
Many were not pleased about this decision because they could no longer watch YouTube videos in 1080p and watching in 480p wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Even though you could watch full resolution videos on your computer, many did not have access to one or didn’t want to sit in front of their computer all the time. That’s why people used VPNs to watch 1080p videos on YouTube on their mobile devices, but it still is inconvenient and cumbersome.
In June, the lockdown was to be phased out slowly. Now in July most of the offices and businesses are open, and people are going to work again. Even though the COVID-19 situation in the country is still not under control different public and private sectors have opened up to boost the economy of the country.
The wait is finally over; YouTube has removed the restriction today on July 16th but only when you are connected to WiFi. Now everyone can watch YouTube videos in whichever resolution they want that too without connecting to VPNs. This is a welcome change for many who were sick of watching 480P videos on YouTube.