YouTube added a new feature called 'Listening Controls' which turns the music video service into a music player for Android and iOS devices.
While watching a music video, in the video YouTube will display the option 'Listening Controls' to ask if the user wants to enable it or not.
Once activated, the Listening Control feature will remove all options below the video window such as descriptions, comments, suggestions, and more to display the main play/pause button, next/prev button, and 10-second rewind or forward buttons.
So when a user watches a music video from a smartphone vertically, the content viewed remains at the top of the screen. The video and channel titles will be listed at the top.
Although this feature is recommended for listening to music only but it can also be used for videos with audio content such as podcasts.
In addition, this feature also has the ability to like, save to playlists, and control playback speed.
This feature was also launched specifically for users who subscribe to YouTube Premium, and while it is only available to users in the US, it will be rolled out more widely in the near future as reported by us from 9to5google, Friday (12/3/2021).