YouTube for iOS Gaining New Gestures and Controls

[MacRumors]

Google is overhauling the YouTube app for iOS to add more intuitive gestures and control options, according to a new blog post on the YouTube site.

The AutoPlay button is being moved from below a video to the top of a video, so it's easier to turn off autoplay content if desired. Captions are also easier to get to right above the video screen, and YouTube said there are "snappier" controls that make actions faster.

Entering full screen mode can be done by swiping upwards on a video instead of having to tap the screen expansion icon at the bottom of the video, which makes it easier to get to full screen mode. A swipe down exits full screen mode and returns to the standard view.

Tapping on the timestamp will now toggle between the time left on a video and the time that has elapsed, so you can view the video length in your preferred way.

YouTube for iOS is getting suggested actions, which are designed to prompt users to do things like rotate a phone or play a video in VR when YouTube thinks a better viewing experience is available.

YouTube in May added video chapters, and now the feature has been expanded to include a list view that pops up when you tap or click on the chapter title. It includes a complete list of all chapters in the video and a preview thumbnail of content.

These features are rolling out to YouTube users on iOS starting today, with YouTube available from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: YouTube for iOS Gaining New Gestures and Controls

 

[howywood]

Could they overhaul it to allow PIP, please?

 

[Kylo83]

Just let us always have video play at highest quality and easier way to change res without 2 steps, also PIP?

 

[macbookpro212]

I honestly think YouTube app is coded by monkeys... Way too many bugs and aggressive ads.

 

[laz232]

Dear Google: gestures are not intuitive.
Thank you.

An engineer

NB the icons are not either - 'autoplay' is a descriptive word. Their new icon is unintuitive.

 

[CarlJ]

KILL AUTOPLAY!

I’ll pick another video if I want, dammit.

 

[Macropanda]

If they could just enable HDR on iPhones 12, iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K. That would be great.

 

[justperry]

I honestly think YouTube app is coded by monkeys... Way too many bugs and aggressive ads.

Youtube sucks nowadays, too many ads in short videos, and it's getting hard to block them.
And then there's the autoplay toggle, I hate autoplay, I always toggle it to off, but as soon as I delete youtube cookies it resets to on.
I have to delete cookies if I want video's from the UK or the states for instance, after I switch my VPN to the UK I still get lots of videos from where I live, so, deleting cookies is necessary.

 

[InGen]

“Sorry guys, we know a lot of you are paying $14.99 per month for Premium but we don’t care about you and we are not adding PiP. But here have a few visual cues and improvements...”
- YouTube

 

[nutmac]

What I like to see:

• As a parent, I am concerned that YouTube serves way too much adult-oriented contents that does not require logging in with adult credential. On the other hand, YouTube Kids is too limited, ill suited for classroom lessons. Google should just require user to login to view all contents.
• Settings should be more sticky. I shouldn't have to choose settings like "dark mode", "theater mode", and "autopay off" on every browsers and mobile clients.
• Ads should be less repetitive. Last two dozens or so video I watched on YouTube served about half dozen ads, but 2 ads repeated 3 times each.

 

[dontwalkhand]

And still no PiP despite shelling out the cash for premium.

Sure the mobile website has it, but it uses “auto” quality and “auto” is 360p which you have to change each time.

 

[Smici]

If they could just enable HDR on iPhones 12, iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K. That would be great.

I have HDR on the 2018 ipp since.. since today.

 

[Ttpilot]

I don't care where they put the Autoplay button so long as it is off by default. It's a 'feature' I don't want

 

[shanson27]

Plus more ads 👎

 

[BWhaler]

Ugh, non-standard OS design to confuse the users. This doesn’t make us want to switch to Android, it’s makes us hate your Apps.

Microsoft learned this the hard way in the 90’s. Apparently Google is doomed to repeat these mistakes….

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

They need to do something about the commercials.

 

[ghostface147]

No thanks. My ad-blocker will not work in that app.

 

[iBluetooth]

Again, their apps use Android UI on iOS. Like the Apple TV app got much worse when they switched to this Android UI. Why can't they follow the learned behaviour that users have for each platform, instead of users having to re-learn their special App gestures?

 

[gtg465x]

If they could just enable HDR on iPhones 12, iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K. That would be great.

I have HDR playback in the YouTube app on my iPhone X. Not sure when they first enabled it, but I first noticed it a couple days ago.

 

[symphony]

How about making native dark mode available to everyone already? It’s been 5 months and I still don’t have it.

And yes, YouTube app does support does support iOS 13’s native dark mode.

 

[gtg465x]

They need to do something about the commercials.

You can do something about it. I pay $7.99 per month for YouTube Music just so that I never have to see advertisements on YouTube. That's grandfathered pricing and you might have to pay $9.99 now, but if you're someone who watches like an hour of YouTube per day like I do, it's worth it.

 

[f0ku5]

I have HDR playback in the YouTube app on my iPhone X. Not sure when they first enabled it, but I first noticed it a couple days ago.

I don't on iPhone 12 and that's what OP was referring to. There's no HDR on iPhones 12.

 

[WiseAJ]

PIP is the only change and new feature we want Google/Alphabet.

 

[Blowback]

They need to do something about the commercials.

For some (sad) reason I predict the day when we will look fondly back at 'only' 2 or 3 '1-3 second' ads....

 

[CarlJ]

NB the icons are not either - 'autoplay' is a descriptive word. Their new icon is unintuitive.

They're hoping that some portion of the people who turn autoplay off will just assume it’s gone and meekly adapt. Because their marketing department tells them that they get greater engagement (and thus more ads served) with autoplay on. This is an attempt to make it less likely to get turned off.