YouTube now lets you scroll through videos more easily

Fast-forwarding or rewinding became a lot more difficult in YouTube last year, after the disappearance of the ability to click the progress bar. A fix appears to be in the works – according to reports from Reddit users. Google is testing a scrolling feature in YouTube to make it easy to scroll through videos.

Video scrubbing in YouTube

Previously, you could navigate to a specific section in a video with one click on the progress bar. Google changed that last year. The ‘progress bar’ can still be used to fast forward or rewind, but only by dragging the progress indicator left or right. In addition, by tapping left or right on your screen twice, it is possible to skip forward or backward by 10 seconds. It works, but not efficiently, the YouTube team seems to realize that.

For this new feature, Google waives changes to the progress bar. Instead, YouTube uses gesture navigation to let users skip forward or backward in videos, Reddit user u/FragmentedChicken reports. After the new feature is activated, users have to long press the screen. If the action is successful, the text ‘Swipe left or right to search’ will appear at the top. By swiping left or right you can then freely scroll through the YouTube video to the desired moment. With a small window at the bottom of the screen you can see if you have arrived at the right time.

Once you let go at a specific time in the video, the video will start playing again. Thus, the new function performs the same task as the existing progress bar. It does save some time though. After all, you don’t have to tap the screen first to conjure up the progress bar, after which you have to aim at the right place on the bar to be able to fast forward or backward.

Rollout in YouTube Beta

Reddit users are reporting that the feature became available after the YouTube Beta 16.31.34 update, which is currently rolling out through the Google Play Store. The editors were unable to get started with the function. It seems that Google is rolling out the feature step by step. For iOS users, the feature is currently also limited.

• Download the YouTube beta version via APKMirror

It is not yet known whether Google plans to roll out the feature definitively. A/B tests are regularly performed by the company to gauge user reactions. Sometimes this means that a feature that has appeared publicly is not looking forward to a wide rollout. Given the state of the feature and the rollout for iOS devices, we would be surprised if Google decides not to roll out this feature widely.

What do you think of the new gesture video scrubbing feature? Have you come across this feature in the YouTube app on your phone yet? Be sure to let us know in the comments below this article.