Over the past two years, YouTube has completely turned the entertainment industry upside down. With the platform taking second place in global internet engagement just after Google, it's safe to say that more people are watching YouTube videos today than ever before. And as such, the platform continues to bring new features very often to keep the audience hooked.
Contents1. AR2 beauty tool. New discovery suggestions3. Check watch time4. Get reminders to take a break5. Use swipe gestures to navigate YouTube will never be the same
In this article, we'll talk about some of these exciting new things that have just made their way onto the platform. And we'll also look at some lesser-known features you might not have heard of. Let's cut to the chase and take a look at some of these amazing YouTube features.
Augmented reality is making its way into everything these days. More recently, Google released an AR feature called Live View on Google Maps. And now the company has also introduced augmented reality to YouTube.
The feature debuted with this makeup tutorial video, and it lets you try out different shades of lipstick right in the app. If you want to try it for yourself, open the video in the YouTube app on your phone, then tap the blue Try It On button.
This will open a virtual trial window. Tap OK and allow the app to access your phone's camera. You should now see your face with the lip color superimposed over your lips in the empty space you see in the attached screenshot.
You can change the color by tapping on the different colored circles at the bottom or click on an image by tapping the camera button. You can also purchase the shade you like by tapping the Buy button in the lower right corner.
According to everysecond.io, more than 80 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every 10 seconds. And while the YouTube algorithm does a lot to help you discover new content you might like, it's still not enough.
Therefore, YouTube has introduced a new discovery feature that gives more power to the user, allowing them to find videos based on the topics they are interested in.
This new feature can be found right at the top of the YouTube app in the form of category tabs that contain videos about a particular topic or creator. Just tap on the topic you like and you'll see a list of trending videos about it.
This new bar also appears just below the video you're watching and helps you discover related videos. Isn't that convenient?
I'm sure most of you have spent countless hours watching videos on YouTube. But did you know that you can see how long you've been on the platform? Now you do.
To check how much time you have spent watching YouTube videos, tap your profile picture in the upper right corner to open your account page, then select Watch time option.
In the next window, you'll see stats based on your YouTube viewing history across all YouTube properties except YouTube Music and YouTube TV. As you can see, I spend quite a bit of time on the platform; on average about 2 hours a day.
How much time do you spend watching videos each day? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below. Of course, there are apps to combat social media addiction.
If you think you're spending too much time on YouTube and would much rather use that time elsewhere, the platform has a feature to help you out. You can find it in the Watch Time feature in the Tools section to manage your YouTube time.
When enabled, the Remind me to take a break feature basically lets you set up a reminder to stop you from binge-watching videos. Just tap the toggle next to it, set up a reminder frequency, and you're good to go. Now whenever you go over the limit, YouTube will remind you to take a break.
YouTube has also rolled out a Quality of Life feature for iPhone users. This introduces new swipe gestures for YouTube on iOS, allowing you to quickly skip to the previous or next video with a simple swipe.
You can swipe right to left to go to the next recommendation or swipe the other way to go back to the previous video. Pretty handy, right?
If you're an Android user, however, you won't be able to use the feature yet. It is not available in the Android version of the app, but according to an official blog post, it should be integrated into the app soon.
So, did you already know any of these features? If not, then you should go ahead and try them out right away. At the time of writing, the new AR feature is only available on one video. So you'll have to settle for trying lipstick for now. But I'm sure more and more creators will start rolling out supported content as it grows in popularity.
Then: Having trouble with YouTube on your phone? Check the next article for some practical solutions you should try.
