YouTube Changes the How You Navigate Between Videos

YouTube is rolling out somewhat of a major change to the video watching experience on mobile devices, starting first with iOS.

YouTube now lets you swipe between videos to switch between videos, reports TechCrunch. You can swipe forward to start watching the next recommended forward and swipe backward to go back to the video you were watching. The experience works when you are on fullscreen, and when you are not.

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The swiping experience is actually kind of intuitive, instead of manually finding a video from the Recommended list, you can simply just keep switching until you find what you want to watch. It’s kind of like the way Stories are implemented on apps like Instagram and Snapchat, but for YouTube.

The cool thing is when you swipe backward and go back to a video you were watching, it will simply start playing where you left off.

YouTube says 70% of its viewing is taking place on phones, so its mobile apps are kind of a big deal in 2019. And the company has been heavily focused on mobile devices in recent times, introducing new features like a dark mode, in-app video sharing and messaging, its own take on Stories, and more.

The changes are crucial at a time where there’s a new YouTube-related controversy almost every month, and although these changes are welcome, they certainly aren’t going to help with the controversies that are bringing down YouTube’s core community.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    15 January, 2019 - 9:01 am

    <p>Seems like a smart move by YouTube; reducing the barrier to changing videos should increase the number of views.</p>

  • faustxd9

    Premium Member
    15 January, 2019 - 12:16 pm

    <p>Should the following "YouTube now lets you swap between videos to switch between videos" read YouTube now lets you "swipe" between…?</p>

  • Omen_20

    15 January, 2019 - 2:36 pm

    <p>I really wish they'd give us the ability to create a queue for viewing while in the app, like music and podcast apps do. The only way to do that is with Chromecast, but it would be nice for desktop as well as phones without casting.</p>

    • lordbaal1

      16 January, 2019 - 1:12 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#397109">In reply to Omen_20:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's called a playlist. I do that all the time.</p>

  • HellcatM

    15 January, 2019 - 4:41 pm

    <p>I hope they still have the list. I guess swiping is ok, but if I have to keep swiping to find a video I like I probably won't watch as much. I tend to quickly look at the list while watching a video to see what interests me.</p>

  • lordbaal1

    16 January, 2019 - 1:11 pm

    <p>"YouTube now lets you swipe between videos to switch between videos,&nbsp;reports TechCrunch. You can swipe forward to start watching the next recommended forward" </p><p>What? Wish my boss let's me drink at work.</p>

  • lordbaal1

    16 January, 2019 - 1:14 pm

    <p> I want to get to a video quickly. Sometimes simple is better. Today web developers want to make thing complicated.</p><p>Want I want is fast fore and rewind controls.</p>

  • blackcomb

    20 January, 2019 - 4:04 pm

    <p>The YouTube app on iOS is getting so annoying. Full of ads for their subscription that I'm not interested at all.</p>

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