YouTube Premium users are getting two new experimental features – “Auto speed” and “On-the-go.”
Spotted in the YouTube app for Android, Google has begun rolling out two features locked behind a Premium subscription. Both are categorized as experimental and are not on by default.
The first feature, “auto speed,” appears to be an enhanced version of 2x speed. It acts on its own, adjusting speed as the video progresses. The card art displays an example of a cooking video, which would be the prime use case for this sort of feature.
YouTube says auto speed is currently available in English only, and only appears for videos that are supported. When unsupported, the “Auto” button in the video speed controls will not appear. Otherwise, the feature can be found in the same place as 2x and other speeds added in a recent update.
On-the-go is another interesting one. It takes cues from YouTube Music’s UI and brings it to videos, but under certain circumstances. The experiment description says it can be activated automatically or manually. If automatic, videos will convert to a more YouTube Music-like UI after sensing motion for at least 60 seconds. A prompt may appear to ask if you’d like to switch.
Users can also eable if by tapping “On-the-go” in the video settings.
This one doesn’t seem to want to work in its current form, so it’s unclear how it compares to YouTube’s Premium controls page. From Google’s artwork, it looks like the video timeline is more accessible, as is the play button. The bottom options look to change as well, with a download button more prominent.
Both the auto speed and on-the-go features are limited to Android devices, for the time being. Auto speed is the only one we were able to get working, though some bugs are to be expected. Again, these are experimental features that may or may not roll out to users as full-fledged tools in the future. For the time being, Premium users can try them out until YouTube pulls them on April 27.
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