Image Courtesy: The Verge
YouTube is allegedly developing a new slide-to-seek function on its Android and iOS apps to make forwarding and rewinding movies easier. Users will be able to skip to their favourite sections of a video by using a “drag-and-hold” motion. Previously, viewers could skip 10 seconds of a video by tapping on the left or right half of the video player, or they could utilise the progress bar. The new functionality appears to be under testing and might be part of a server-wide upgrade or reach users account by account.
According to Android Police, the new YouTube playback settings were discovered by a Reddit user (@u/FragmentedChicken). According to his observations, the slide-to-seek feature is present in the current YouTube beta v16.31.34 app for Android. Some customers reported that the functionality was visible on their iOS devices as well. It appears that the functionality is reaching customers on an account-by-account basis.
According to the Reddit article, while utilising the drag and hold gesture, users will see a ‘Slide left or right to seek’ banner at the top of the screen. This function is accessed by pressing and holding anywhere on the video screen and sliding left or right to rewind or skip. Along with this, YouTube will provide a tiny thumbnail of the video being skipped, which should make it much easier to skip to the appropriate section of the clip.
The standard way for rewinding or skipping sections of a YouTube video works slightly differently. To utilise the slide-to-seek feature, users must first bring up the progress bar by touching on the screen. Once it is displayed, users may drag the red dot to the appropriate location. Users of Google’s video streaming service can also skip material in 10-second increments by pressing on the left or right half of the video player. The new motions are more natural and should make it much easier to manage video playback on YouTube.
