Google makes YouTube for Android more user-friendly in a fresh update

Despite the fact that YouTube can be safely considered one of the most profitable Google services, it, unlike maps and a browser, is rarely updated. Either the company considers video hosting to be a very successfully implemented project, or they simply don’t know in which direction to develop its design so as not to make it worse.

Nevertheless, at the beginning of this week, Google still gave birth to another update, which, oddly enough, is aimed at improving the interface and increasing the usability of the application.

YouTube for Android gets a usability update

At the heart of the update, according to Google, the developers have laid a convenient video viewing. Whether they succeeded or not, time and user preferences will tell. But for now, there is no point in arguing with the search giant — we still have to try to get used to the implemented innovations, which, perhaps, do not qualify for the title of a large-scale upgrade, but are definitely capable of changing what the enlightened public is usually called user experience.

New YouTube features

First, Google has moved the auto-play switch from under the video window to the top, embedding it right in the video interface.

Secondly, the subtitle enables button has moved from the context menu, where it was difficult for beginners (and not for beginners too) to find it, to the upper right corner of the video interface.

Third, the YouTube app now has support for gestures. Now swiping up on the video will switch it to full-screen mode, and swiping down will minimize it.

Fourth, YouTube now has a video recommendation system. The service itself will tell you when it is better to open the video in full-screen mode or turn on VR if it improves the perception.

The most useful innovation, in my opinion, is support for gestures. Still, poking into a small square in the corner of a video to open it in full screen is a rather inconvenient thing. Either because of the thick fingers, or because of the poor response of the sensor, but every now and then I miss, which makes me very annoyed.

And such a solution will make using the application more convenient. However, personally, I would prefer that the developers add support for the pinch-to-zoom gesture from iOS to YouTube for Android, when you can pinch and unroll videos.

YouTube will recommend how best to watch videos

And, as for moving the automatic playback buttons and activating subtitles to the most prominent place, it seems to me that it was superfluous. After all, I hate auto-generated subtitles, and I’ve never met users who have autoplay on and watched everything.

Perhaps, of course, this will be useful for children who do not care what to watch at all, but, on the other hand, it can be dangerous. After all, uncontrolled video viewing can lead to visual impairment and personality degradation.

Despite the fact that the YouTube update for Android has already been released, it seems that Google has decided not to release it immediately to the public release, limiting itself to a small audience of users. You can also read this article on Youtube com Activate TV.

Therefore, if you are eager to try out the implemented innovations, you can download the APK file of the update from this link. Once installed, the updated app will replace what was already installed on your device and will work, as usual, receiving all updates from Google Play without any interruption.