YouTube

YouTube in recent years has been increasing the number of ads that viewers see in and between videos, all in an attempt to get more people to subscribe to its YouTube Premium plan, which removes all ads for a monthly fee, amongst other benefits. If you're a regular user of YouTube, paying a few dollars a month to enjoy an ad-free experience is probably worth the outlay, especially if you...

Beginning March 2021, YouTube officially ended support for its YouTube app on third-generation Apple TV models. If you own the older set-top box, which launched in January 2013, you'll be unable to access the video platform directly via the official YouTube Apple TV app. (You're also basically in the same situation if you own the second-generation Apple TV, which doesn't have an App Store at...

In iOS 14, Apple added a Picture in Picture mode on iPhone that lets you watch a video in a small screen on your device while you continue to do other things on the phone. Picture in Picture mode doesn't work in the YouTube app, although it was possible to watch videos in Picture in Picture on YouTube's mobile website through Safari until YouTube intentionally nixed the workaround last...

The official YouTube app for iOS has gained a new voice search feature that aims to make searching for content easier when you're casting YouTube video to a smart TV. Once you've connected your iPhone or iPad to a smart TV, you can search with your voice via the mobile app, as well as use it to pause, play, and adjust the volume on your TV. Here's how it works. Download and launch the You...

Over the next few weeks, YouTube is rolling out a new feature for its mobile app called "Autoplay on Home," which automatically plays videos that appear on your Home tab. As you scroll through your Home feed, videos will begin to play on mute with captions auto-enabled. Google claims the previously Premium-only feature is a better way to experience new content on the go, and will help you...

Google has quietly increased its YouTube Premium subscription prices for newcomers in the United States (via 9to5Google). Individual YouTube Premium subscriptions now cost $13.99 per month, up $2 from the previous $11.99 price. Signing up to a monthly subscription from within the iOS YouTube app has also increased to $18.99, up from $15.99. Annual plans have gone up from $119.99 to...

YouTube appears to be developing a new gaming service called "Playables," according to The Wall Street Journal. The service allows users to play games on mobile devices or desktop computers, and it is being tested with Google employees internally. Playables appears to offer instant-play games through the YouTube website or YouTube mobile apps, offering an alternative to video content. In a...

YouTube Premium subscribers will soon have access to SharePlay and an enhanced 1080p video quality option with a higher bitrate on the iPhone. In a blog post today, YouTube said both features will be available in its iOS app "in the coming weeks." SharePlay will let you watch YouTube videos with friends and family while on a FaceTime call together, while the enhanced 1080p option will make...

YouTube today announced that it is increasing the price of the YouTube TV service, with the cost set to go from $65 to $73 starting today. New members will need to pay $73/month for the streaming service starting now, while prices will increase for existing members on April 18. According to YouTube, the price is increasing because "content costs have risen" and it needs to charge more to...

YouTube has won the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket after negotiations and a deal between the NFL and Apple failed to fully materialize, Google and the NFL announced today. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, YouTube will pay roughly $2 billion a year to secure the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket franchise as part of its YouTube TV service. NFL Sunday Ticket is a package that...

YouTube's Apple TV app is crashing and causing some issues for users when they try to exit out of the app, according to user reports online. On Twitter and Reddit, users report that when trying to exit out of the YouTube app, their ‌Apple TV‌ becomes unresponsive and shows a black screen. The issue begins when users press the back button on their ‌Apple TV‌ remote, which then causes the...

YouTube today announced a number of updates that are designed to improve the look and performance of the popular video player on desktop and on mobile devices. An "ambient mode" changes the background color of the app in a subtle way to match the video that is playing, an effect that YouTube says is meant to draw viewers into the content. Ambient mode will be available on the web and on...

YouTube has brought to an end a limited test that locked 4K videos behind its Premium subscription, according to one of its official Twitter accounts (via 9to5Google). YouTube has supported 4K videos since 2010, and they have since been freely available to be viewed by anyone. At least, that was until earlier this month, when some users reported seeing a "Premium" label against 2160p/4K...

YouTube may make watching videos in 4K quality on the platform exclusive to only YouTube Premium subscribers, according to screenshots posted by users on Twitter and Reddit. On Reddit (1,2) and Twitter, some users have started to recently notice that on iOS, and presumably across other platforms also, YouTube is now saying that in order to watch videos in 4K, the user must be a paying...

Apple is preparing for its first fall event that is set to take place on Wednesday, September 7, and the company today launched a YouTube live stream where viewers can sign up to get a reminder when the event begins. The "Far Out" event will kick off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on September 7. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said earlier in August that Apple has already prepared a prerecorded version ...

YouTube is testing the ability for users to zoom into videos on iOS as part of its suite of features offered to premium subscribers. The "Pinch to zoom" feature is available as an experimenatal feature to YouTube Premium subscribers, and as it sounds, lets viewers zoom up to 8x into a video as they're watching it. The feature will be available until September 1 and may become a permanent...

YouTube today announced that it has begun rolling out picture-in-picture support for all iOS users in the United States, allowing iPhone and iPad owners to close the YouTube app when watching a video and continue to view the content in a small pop-up window while doing other things on their devices. Picture-in-picture support has previously available to YouTube premium subscribers in the...

YouTube today announced the launch of a new syncing feature that allows an iOS or Android device to connect to a TV that has the YouTube app, allowing the connected device to be used for commenting, liking videos, and more. According to YouTube, people were already using the mobile app to engage with YouTube videos watched on TV sets, and the company decided to take advantage of that to...

YouTube has added a new playback feature to its web player and mobile apps that helps users identify the most replayed parts of a video they're watching (via TechCrunch). Going forward, a gray graph will appear along the top of the video progress bar. "If the graph is high, then that part of the video has been replayed often," says YouTube. "You can use the graph to quickly find and watch...

Following a lengthy testing period, YouTube's picture-in-picture support for iOS will begin rolling out in the next few days, allowing all users, including non-premium and premium subscribers, to close the YouTube app and continue watching their video in a small pop-up window. Google in June announced that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to both premium and non-paying YouTube ...

Picture-in-picture support is rolling out to all YouTube TV users who have an iOS 15 device, the YouTube TV team announced today on Twitter. When watching YouTube TV content, users can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the Home screen, with the content continuing to play in a small picture-in-picture window that can be adjusted. With picture-in-picture support, YouTube TV...

YouTube today extended its testing period for the iPhone's picture-in-picture feature by an additional two weeks. YouTube Premium subscribers now have access to picture-in-picture mode on iOS as an "experimental feature" until February 14, according to YouTube. The feature was originally set to be available until January 31, but the date has been pushed forward several times....

YouTube says it has passed 50 million subscribers for its Premium and Music subscriptions, making it the "fastest growing music subscription" service in the world, according to YouTube's global head of music, Lyor Cohen. YouTube says that it has more than 50 million paying subscribers collectively across YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. The Google-owned service says it attributes this...

Google has rolled out picture-in-picture support as an "experimental" feature for YouTube premium subscribers, allowing them to watch video in a small window when the app is closed. If you're a premium YouTube subscriber looking to try out picture-in-picture, follow these steps: Launch a web browser and sign into your YouTube account at YouTube.com. Navigate to www.youtube.com/new. Scroll...

YouTube is piloting a new cheaper subscription tier in Europe called "Premium Lite," which offers ad-free viewing minus YouTube Premium's other features. First spotted by a user on ResetEra and subsequently confirmed by Google, the "Lite" plan means users who aren't interested in offline downloads or background playback can still enjoy YouTube videos on web and mobile app without being...