YouTube subscribers who prefer watching in the fast lane are in for a treat. YouTube is trying out a new feature for YouTube Premium members. The new feature lets subscribers skip a series of screen taps to get to the settings gear and adjust the speed. Now, all you need to do is press the video player.
As reported by 9To5Google, YouTube Premium members can “long press anywhere on the player while watching a video to automatically bump the playback speed to 2x” and a “playing at 2x speed” notification pops up at the top of the screen.
The “Long Press to Watch at 2x” trial runs through August 13th. This feature works through YouTube’s mobile app as well as the web.
To participate in the trial, you must be a YouTube Premium member and also sign up for YouTube’s experimental new features option. YouTube gives trial participants a gift card at the completion of every trial following a brief questionnaire.
Another trial scheduled to end on August 13th provides bigger screen previews when searching for a specific spot in a video. Move the playback dot forwards and backwards to see a larger preview pop-up.
Ending August 5th, YouTube is testing out a new method to avoid accidental taps while watching a video with Lock Screen. To activate this feature, select the gear icon at the top left corner while in full-screen mode, and tap Lock Screen. Then, you can enjoy your video without accidentally pushing pause, skip, or otherwise disrupt your viewing experience.
As revealed yesterday by TechCrunch, YouTube has also quietly started rolling out another feature. “Stabile Volume” has been reported by several YouTube Premium members, but has yet to be officially announced by the streaming service. This feature allows you to level out sound throughout all YouTube videos so they all relatively play within your preferred sound limits.