YouTube is testing a new mobile app feature with its premium subscribers that allow them to zoom in on any video. As noticed by 9to5Googlethe latest opt-in experimental feature allows a pinch to videos – and it works in both portrait and landscape views in full screen.
According to the company, the zoom will be tested until September 1, giving YouTube about a month to collect user feedback and fine-tune things before potentially rolling it out on a larger scale.
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To enable pinch to zoom, open YouTube’s settings menu on your phone or from the website. As long as you’re subscribed to YouTube Premium, there should be a “try new features” section. At the moment the only function available to test is the zoom function. It seems there may be a delay between signing up for the test and actually being able to use the squeeze gesture as I couldn’t zoom in on videos right after turning it on. But once it’s active, you should be able to zoom in up to 8x.
There are already ways to zoom in on YouTube content with various accessibility features on Android and iOS, and obviously it’s very easy to do this in a desktop browser. But it’s all the more convenient to have it as an optional native feature in the mobile app. Last month, YouTube finally delivered Picture-in-Picture mode for iPhone and iPad after first testing with premium customers; that hugely useful feature has long been available on Android.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.