YouTube announced in ablog postthat it is rolling out dozens of new features for its mobile app, giving you more control over how you watch videos and making it easier to find the parts you really want to see. Earlier this year, the platformexperimented with allowing users to long-press the right half of the video playerto double the playback speed. Now, it has made the shortcut even easier, so you can just press and hold anywhere on the player, whether you’re watching in full screen or portrait mode, to kick things into 2x speed. Once you reach the part you want, just let go.
Another handy feature removes those sudden, annoying blasts of sound. YouTube’s newstable volume featurewill keep things nice and even, so you can enjoy your videos without any jarring volume changes. It’s on by default, but if you want to adjust it, just tap the gear icon in the app and go to “Additional settings.”
you’re able to finally say goodbye to the frustrating search for that song stuck in your head. YouTube is rolling out an AI-powered voice recognition feature that magically identifies a song for you when you hum, sing, or play a song’s melody into the app. Google’shad a similar feature for a while. YouTube has been testing this out since August, and now it’s ready for prime time, though it will initially be available only onAndroid phones.
YouTube is also making your mobile browsing experience even better with bigger preview thumbnails, so you can see more of what you’re about to watch. It has also added a lock feature for the video player, so you don’t have to worry about accidental taps and swipes messing up your viewing experience, as shown in the video below.
Your personal space has gotten a makeover, too. YouTube hascombined the Library tab and account pageinto a new tab called “You.” It’s where you’ll find all your previously watched videos, playlists, downloads, and purchases, alongside your account settings and channel info. The You tab now replaces the Library tab on the web, mobile, and tablets.
