What you need to know
- YouTube is rolling out a few new features for its Premium subscribers, beginning with the "jump ahead" button when skipping through video content.
- Additionally, subscribers are picking up picture-in-picture support for Shorts for out-of-app viewing.
- YouTube also detailed a new test involving user "@" mentions in the comment sections, rolling out to a select number of creators.
YouTube Premium subscribers can expect a few new features to hit their devices, as well as some experimental adventures.
The platform started by detailing a new "jump ahead" feature Premium users can utilize when skipping through videos in a blog post. YouTube states that double-tapping your screen to skip forward a few seconds will display a "jump ahead" option. This button is said to take you "right where you want to go."
The jump ahead button can deliver users to those most exciting video moments through YouTube's AI software and view behavior. Premium subscribers in the U.S. on Android have this already, though iOS folks will pick it up in the weeks ahead.
YouTube's Shorts are quick bursts of content that the platform now lets users take anywhere with picture-in-picture support. Starting a Short in the app and swiping out to another will shrink the video on the side of your display. Shorts will appear vertically but in the same vein as watching a normal long-form video.
Users can tap the box outline to fullscreen the Short and return to the YouTube app.
The post adds that picture-in-picture support for Shorts has started to arrive for Android users.
Lastly, YouTube is raising awareness of a few of its current experimental features for Premium users, such as Shorts in Smart Downloads. The app will take into account your Shorts watch history and "automatically" downloads content it recommends for offline use. After starting its conversational AI test late last year, YouTube announced its return for Android Premium users.
The tool offers help in videos through the "Ask" button through summaries, topic information, and more. Additionally, Premium users can peruse YouTube's new watch page design changes.
The YouTube team then detailed an update on user feedback and requests, beginning with the storage problems. The service is looking into device storage-related problems regarding its download feature. Elsewhere, Premium subscribers can enjoy 4K content on phones, TVs, tablets, and the web. With an 8K option available for TVs, computers, and VR headsets.
YouTube highlights its planned development of easily accessible Premium controls and fixes the loss of videos in the queue. Moreover, the "Continue watching" function is on deck to be fixed to include videos stored in your queue.
Android Police spotted a test that's just getting underway that lets users mention others in a video's comment section. YouTube explained in its experimental notes that those in the test can type "@" when commenting. This will produce a list of channels (or handles) you can mention in your post. Clicking their name will turn it into a "clickable linked mention."
The ability to tag another person is rolling out to a limited selection of creators. However, YouTube stresses that everyone can interact with the linked handle when posted.
