Fairly recently, Google added some new features to its in-feed videos. Before, they would just autoplay silently if you stopped on them. Now, you can mute/unmute them, scrub them, and even activate closed captions. You could do all of this with them while they stayed out of the way.
YouTube might make in-feed videos annoying
However, that might not be the case for much longer. According to Android Police, YouTube might be working on a way to make them more of a presence. The folks at AP were able to side-load the latest APK and try out the app. Usually, the in-feed video would just start playing, but with the new version, there’s a change. When a video would start playing, that video would be pushed into the foreground, leaving the rest of the UI with a darkened shade. Under the video, you’ll see the options to mute/unmute, toggle captions, add to “Watch Later”, and skip to the next video. This will make In-feed YouTube videos a bit more intrusive, unfortunately. Instead of just idly playing while you scroll, the UI changes to accommodate the video. It could definitely be an issue if you land on a video and you just want to read the title or look at the thumbnail but the screen goes dark. Right now, we’re not really sure if YouTube is going to bring this feature to the official app. The company didn’t officially announce this. Hopefully, if this does come, you’ll have the option to disable it.
In Other YouTube News: YouTube Vanced has been discontinued
One of the most popular YouTube alternatives, YouTube Vanced has been discontinued. This adaptation of the streaming platform brought back the dislike counter and offered some neat features, and that was the problem. Some of those “neat” features were features that you’d have to pay for with YouTube Premium. So, it makes sense that Google would step in and put an end to it.
