From serving just 30,000 daily visitors during its beta release in 2005 to now being accessed by 2.56 billion users, YouTube has firmly established itself as the undisputed king of online video content. This comes as no surprise, considering how the platform caters to virtually every interest under the sun, whether you're looking for a tutorial on how to use YouTube Studio, eager to relive the most epic NBA gameplays, or just want to check out what's new with your favorite lifestyle vlogger, you'd go to YouTube.
Like most people, you probably spend a good few minutes, if not hours, on the platform daily, and you're likely well-acquainted with its basic functionalities. But while YouTube may already feel like your digital backyard, there's a good chance you haven't stumbled upon some of its coolest features that are hidden in plain sight. If you want to use YouTube more productively and elevate your viewing experience in the process, here's a list of five of the things you didn't know you could do on YouTube.
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Sure, YouTube already has an on-screen media playback controller, but it's pretty annoying as it clutters the screen. If you don't have YouTube Premium, with its less intrusive side controls, gestures are the way to go. Here's a rundown of the media playback gestures you can do on your YouTube app, some of which are recently released YouTube features:
With the many entertaining and informative videos on YouTube, you're bound to get sucked into the rabbit hole and spend hours on end on the app. Looking at the Time Watched feature on the YouTube app (found in the You tab) will reveal exactly how much time you end up watching videos. If you're dedicating more time to it than you'd prefer, your initial reaction might be to look for third-party app blockers. However, YouTube has features to help you minimize your time on the app.
Here's how you can set automatic alerts to remind you to take a break from YouTube:
When you open your YouTube app, the first videos you'll see are recommended content based on your watch and search histories. While this is a great way to find videos you enjoy watching, it can be quite unhelpful when other people use your account, or you're using YouTube for anything other than personal entertainment. Say your kid or a guest used the YouTube app on your smart TV, or you're working on homework and need to research on YouTube.
If you don't want these searches and watched videos to affect your recommendations, there are two things you can do to prevent unwanted videos from appearing in your YouTube history.
The first is by turning on incognito on YouTube. This mode essentially works as if you've signed out of your account. Therefore, you won't see your subscriptions, and anything you do won't affect your history. Here's how to use it:
The second method involves pausing your YouTube history. Here's how to do so:
With only your history paused, your subscriptions remain visible, but your watch and search activities won't be recorded.
If you're the type who cares about the metadata of YouTube videos, then the "Stats for nerds" feature might come in handy for you. This provides an array of behind-the-scenes data about the video you're watching and basic information about your mobile device. Here, you can find various stats, such as the device name, video ID, video and audio format, volume level, bandwidth, and the count of dropped frames, among other things. These figures are particularly useful if you're curious about the technical makeup of a video, troubleshooting playback issues, or encountering app-related problems that you need to report to YouTube.
To enable "Stats for nerds," here's what you need to do:
The stats will then be displayed on your screen. It's important to note, though, that this overlay may take up a lot of screen real estate, affecting your viewing experience. If you just need to gather the information, simply press Copy debug info to copy the data. You can then dismiss the stats overlay by tapping the 'X' button.
Typically, when you're watching tutorials, you won't always understand the gist of the process until you watch it again. That's why YouTube's loop feature is so essential. It comes in handy not only for educational videos but also for playing your favorite music video or any other content on repeat.
But you probably come across a dilemma when watching a video with multiple chapters and only want to loop a specific chapter rather than the entire video. In such cases, you'd normally adjust the timeline repeatedly, which can be quite tedious. Fortunately, YouTube offers a more convenient solution: looping individual chapters. Follow these steps to do so:
Read the original article on SlashGear.
2023-12-17T15:30:37Z dg43tfdfdgfd