Over the past few months, careful observers of YouTube have noticed several new features, implying that the video site was testing several potential updates. Now, several of those tools are available for everyone: YouTube has rolled out its new desktop design for all users and has added several new features to its mobile app.
The desktop design, which has been unofficially available since at least May, brings YouTube in line with the Material Design philosophy employed by Google across its properties. Among the perks of the new layout is the launch of a dark mode that makes nighttime viewing easier on the eyes.
Several of the latest additions to the YouTube mobile app give users the ability to perform functions that were already available on the desktop version of the platform. A “double tap” feature lets video viewers skip ten seconds forward or backward, in case they want to go back to a section they missed or skip over the boring parts. Also, the playback speed of videos can now be sped up or slowed down, as is the case in your browser.
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Other updates to the mobile app include a flexible viewing window that can display square and vertical videos without any black space; that said, we would still advise against shooting your videos vertically. YouTube is also testing the ability to swipe left or right to access the previous or next video in an active playlist.
For more information about YouTube’s latest updates, check out this blog post from the video site.
