Google recently update the YouTube app on Android and added in Material You widgets, letting you add a splash of color to your homescreen. The widget itself is also new. As YouTube widgets weren’t available prior to this app update.
If you’re someone who browses YouTube often, then you may want quick access to the videos within the app. This feature, as pointed out by 9To5Google, was added to iOS last month. So Google is just following suit with the same availability for Android users.
There are two possible widget choices and each has their own merits. The first is a simple search bar you can place on the homescreen. Tapping this will take you directly to the search function within the app, and bring up the keyboard so you can immediately start typing in your search query. There’s also a mic button you can tap if you want to search by voice.
The second widget still includes the search bar but also tacks on quick access buttons for various sections of YouTube. There’s a dedicated button for home, shorts, subscriptions, and library. And just as with the search bar, tapping on any of them take you directly to that spot. For example, tapping on the shorts button opens right into a YouTube Short.
YouTube Material You widgets for all
This is a pretty minor update but definitely a nifty one if you use YouTube a lot. And since they use the Material You design, they’ll match up nicely with whatever your homescreen colors are. And of course, change dynamically as you swap out your wallpaper. These should be showing up for anyone that has the latest version of the YouTube app on their device. So long as they also have a device that runs on Android 12.
You’ll need YouTube to be updated to version 17.43.36. This update should also include the ambient mode feature on videos. Which adds an ambient aura of very subtle colors to the border of the video to make the viewing experience more immersive. This feature was also recently rolled out on the web.
2022-11-04 15:07:46