YouTube

YouTube is one of the biggest places to find entertainment and information online, but like everything else, it doesn’t come free. Ads are the backbone of YouTube, but many have noted over the years that the platform’s advertising has become more and more unsavory. Now, YouTube ads have picked up a vocal critic in Elon Musk, who apparently doesn’t bother to pay to avoid them entirely.

As teased by Sundar Pichai in April, the YouTube app on your phone will soon serve as a connected, second-screen experience for videos playing on your TV.

Over a month ago, YouTube confirmed that timed emoji reactions for videos were set to be tested over the coming months. Some weeks after that early teaser, it seems that people are starting to see the option with specific video content.

YouTube is announcing a handful of updates today to its video player from a “Most replayed” graph to testing ways to quickly jump to sections you’d be more interested in.

Since 2019, the main YouTube app has offered to open song videos in YouTube Music, but this integration is now getting much more prominent.

Google wants to give you more control over the advertising that appears in Search, the Discover feed, and YouTube with its upcoming “My Ad Center.”

YouTube Go was first announced in 2016 as a lightweight Android app that’s optimized for lower-end hardware and constrained cellular connectivity. YouTube announced today that it was shutting down the Go app “beginning in August.”

Back in December of 2020, YouTube started letting users restrict alcohol and gambling advertising. These ad limits are now being expanded to Google’s broader Display network and cover more sensitive categories.

Last year, YouTube a new feature named “Super Thanks” in beta form. It was a way for some creators to earn money directly from fans on YouTube. Now, the platform is expanding Super Thanks to creators in over 68 different countries.

After widespread outrage at the removal of “Dislike” counts on YouTube wholesale, it appears that Google is attempting to spread some cheer with a brand new “Like” button animation on mobile.

At the end of last month, Google started requiring Android apps distributed via the Play Store to use its payment service rather than letting developers continue to collect billing details directly. To follow those latest guidelines, YouTube Premium and YouTube TV now use Google Play Billing. 

With the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returning after a two-year absence, YouTube will be there to livestream both weekends of the 2022 event.

Back in December, Google made official a YouTube app on the Cast-powered Chromecast that can be controlled by a remote on your phone, but a bug is causing desktop Chrome users to also see the new UI.

Google and the Major League Baseball Association reached a deal last year to stream some MLB games via YouTube, and that contract has been renewed for the 2022 season. YouTube will stream 15 MLB games through May and June, and now in higher resolution.

As TikTok has dominated the internet, other platforms have been quick to cash in on the short-form video trend. Instagram did it with Reels, and YouTube has been doing it with Shorts. Now, YouTube Shorts are expanding yet again, this time on the web and tablets.

This weekend, YouTube removed the long-running experiment that allowed iPhone and iPad users to keep watching videos in picture-in-picture mode. Now, YouTube has confirmed that its iOS app is in the process of rolling out picture-in-picture support to everyone on iOS 15 and up.