The YouTube app has a feature we’ve already seen on iOS: now, tapping on the progress bar is no longer enough to fast forward and rewind a video
The YouTube app on Android has a new feature that many have been waiting for: it’s a change to the interface that will allow you to stop interfering with playback while tapping on the fullscreen icon. It might seem like a small change that made by Google but, given the precedent, it could solve many problems of usability.
It is a long-standing issue that, at least once in their lives, has touched all owners of Android smartphones. Who hasn’t? When you’re playing a video in the YouTube app, you decide to switch from windowed to full-screen playback. The unexpected happens with a tap: instead of pressing the correct button, you tap on the timeline scroll bar and the video is suddenly brought to the last few bars.
YouTube for Android: what changes when you tap
To remedy this problem, Google has revised the user experience of the Android application, translating in this way the change already made to the version dedicated to devices with the iOS operating system. On Apple, in fact, in order to properly interact with the scrolling of the timeline, it is necessary to make a prolonged pressure on the cursor, proceeding only then to move it to the desired position.
This particular behavior, however, is not completely new for the YouTube app for Android. In fact, back in 2018 the change to the interface was included in the version of the app available for download through Google’s Play Store. However, at a later time, Big G had decided to take a step back, removing the feature and returning everything to the original condition.
YouTube for Android: the new behavior is in the update, but not only
The update, despite not having been announced previously by the Mountain View headquarters, has already been made available and it is therefore only a matter of waiting for all servers to allow its download. However, the lack of communication has left users bewildered, as they were not aware of the changed behavior and found themselves reporting it as a bug. Another one, since the change would have opened the door to a buffering problem, closely related to the sliding of the cursor on the time bar.