YouTube Is Updating Video Navigation On Its Mobile App

To make navigation through videos easier, YouTube is updating its mobile app where 70 percent of its views are generated. According to the company’s announcement, this week, there will be a new swiping gesture that allows users to horizontally move through videos they’re viewing.

When you swipe forward, the app will show the next video. And it’ll show the video you last watched when you swipe backward, playing from where you left off. By this change, the video platform aims to help users better control what they watch on its mobile app.

In the past few months, YouTube has also made several other adjustments to its mobile app. In 2018, YouTube focused on improving user experience on its mobile app by launching “Stories” – its own short-form creator content, dark mode, tools for controlling screen time, auto-playing video on the home page, etc.

Before that, in 2017, the company introduced messaging and video sharing feature within the app, as well as worked to better support various video formats on its app. And it additionally let users double-tap a video for jumping to 10 seconds back or forward, this is an attempt to optimize gesture use on mobile. It is likely that the new swiping feature takes after this one.

By adding the horizontal swiping feature, YouTube is not only helping users move through its app more easily, but it’s also raising user engagement with its video content. Moreover, it appears that the feature is extending the number of time users spend on YouTube mobile app whenever they open it. This means the company can make more money through advertising as well as in-app purchases such as virtual currency and merchandise.

This week, users of iOS devices will be the first to experience this new feature, according to YouTube. But it refused to reveal when Android users will get the hand on the horizontal swipes.