YouTube gets many new features on every available platform

Google is releasing a slew of new features and updates for its YouTube apps and services on all of its supported platforms. They contain a new feature that many users will undoubtedly appreciate: a sleep timer.

Google announced in a YouTube blog post that the new sleep timer feature, which was previously only available to YouTube Premium subscribers, is now available to all YouTube mobile users.

Now, if you take your smartphone or tablet to bed and watch some videos at night, you can program the app to shut off automatically if you fall asleep. There are predefined time limitations ranging from 10 minutes to an hour, or you may tell the app to turn off when a video ends.

YouTube is also upgrading the mini-player feature in its mobile apps. You can now move the YouTube app's mini-player to browse other video selections while still watching your current video. You can also resize the mini-player.

There are also some adjustments to YouTube playlists. Users can share a link with others in the mobile app to assist in playlist creation. YouTube TV app users will soon be able to add to their playlists using a QR code. Later in 2024, users will be able to vote on videos in playlists.

Google added:

We’re also introducing new customization tools to give playlists a personal touch. Users can design their own custom thumbnails for playlists using their own photos or create new ones with generative AI.

Also, later this year, both the YouTube and YouTube Music mobile apps will support adding special badges to commemorate user accomplishments, such as being a top listener to a creator's music.

Other smaller changes for YouTube apps being rolled out include the ability to modify the playing speed of videos in 0.05 increments and some cosmetic improvements to the app that Google claims will help to simplify the experience.