Video streaming site, YouTube is unlocking new features for its mobile app and one of them is a new interface for its mobile app’s full-screen player. The new feature will make it easier for users to like or dislike a video, view comments, and share what they are watching.
Most of the features were earlier hidden behind a swipe-up gesture on the “more videos” section, but the new update now puts them front and centre, in the process relegating related videos to a button in the corner.
The feature change is effective only when a user is watching a YouTube video in full screen as users won’t be able to notice the change while watching a video in portrait format. But users may be more accustomed to the portrait mode as it affords them easy access to share buttons and other controls, a visible upside of the new feature coming only in full-screen mode.
The new interface allows easy access to the mode that allows viewers to see comments side by side with the video while in the landscape. Viewers have to earlier tap on the comment section while in portrait mode to open it up before it can be switched into full-screen mode, but the new interface affords them the opportunity of pulling them up by tapping the comment button.
The new update will be available in both iOS and Android, and according to Allison Toh, a spokesman of Google, it will begin to roll, Monday, the 7th of February 2022.
The new UI though is yet being viewed by everyone but the Monday rollout will have it available across all iOS and Android equipment.
YouTube had November last year announced that it will be hiding the public dislike counts on videos across its site.
The company then premised its decision on the objective of protecting smaller creators against being targeted by dislike attacks or harassment, while also promoting “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.” According to the announcement by YouTube, the dislike button will still be there, but it will be for private feedback, rather than public shaming.