YouTube for Android testing swipe gesture to skip to next video

Abner Li | Jul 31 2018 - 2:54 pm PT

After introducing a dark theme for Android last week, YouTube is now testing the ability to swipe through videos to quickly jump to the next one. This gesture is quite intuitive and faster than the current alternatives.

Users can swipe (via Google+) through an entire page — including the player window, title, descriptions, like/dislike/share buttons, and suggested videos — to get to the next video.

The swipe left or right from the edge of the screen specifically takes users to the next item queued in “Up next.” It replaces tapping for the next video, as well as the forwards/backwards buttons that are overlaid on the video player. This makes for a better way to quickly return to the last clip rather than having to first tap and wait for the previous button to appear.

Everything above the channel avatar and name bar loads immediately, while the list of “Up next” videos takes a second longer to appear, according to the video. There is a swiping animation that’s rather reminiscent of Android P’s new vertical Overview screen, with the current screen in view acting as an individual card.

While slightly hidden, the gesture is definitely more intuitive. We have yet to spot the new gesture on any of our Android devices, while we have one report of the feature also being A/B tested on iOS.