YouTube is gearing up to enhance your video-watching experience with a series of exciting new features and design updates. These changes, which have been in testing for a while, are now being rolled out officially on both Android and iOS platforms.
One of the standout updates is the redesigned miniplayer. It now resembles a picture-in-picture window, allowing you to move and resize it for a more flexible viewing experience. The cramped, rectangular crop above the bottom bar is gone. The video now floats at the top with a handy close button, while a strip below gives you essential controls like play/pause and 10-second rewind/forward.
If you often find yourself nodding off during late-night YouTube marathons, the new Sleep Timer feature could be your best friend. Available to all users (both free and Premium), this feature lets you set timers in increments from 10 minutes to the end of a video — ideal for setting limits on your screen time.
Playback speed just got more customizable too. Instead of fixed increments, you now get a slider that allows for adjustments in 0.05x intervals, giving you more control over how fast (or slow) you want to watch your favorite content. Plus, there are handy plus/minus buttons and preset options at the bottom for quick adjustments.
There are also some nifty playlist updates. You can now create custom thumbnails using either your own images or AI-generated options. This feature will be available on the web as well, extending its reach beyond just YouTube Music. Collaborative playlists are also in the works, with the ability to share via link or QR code on TVs. In the near future, you’ll even be able to vote on videos in playlists to help rank them.
YouTube is also introducing new badges to celebrate unique milestones. These badges, visible in the “You” tab, recognize things like being one of the first paid members of a creator’s channel or completing quizzes correctly. Over in YouTube Music, listeners can earn badges for being top fans of an artist or getting a creator to heart their comment.
With these fresh features and updates, YouTube continues to keep things dynamic, ensuring users have a more personalized and interactive experience across both its main platform and YouTube Music. Keep an eye out for these changes as they roll out over the coming weeks.
Hillary Keverenge
2362 Posts
Tech has been my playground for over a decade. While the Android journey began early, it truly took flight with the revolutionary Lollipop update. Since then, it's been a parade of Android devices (with a sprinkle of iOS), culminating in a mostly happy marriage with Google's smart home ecosystem. Expect insightful articles and explorations of the ever-evolving world of Android and Google products coupled with occasional rants on the Nest smart home ecosystem.
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