YouTube is testing a Play Something button in YouTube App on Android, according to what was spotted by a user. The new button plays any random YouTube Shorts and regular long-form videos. Here’s everything else you’d need to know about the new button in the YouTube app.
First reported by Android Police last year and the latest report coming from 9to5Google, the Play Something button in YouTube app on Android appears as a Floating Action Button (FAB) at the bottom right corner of the ‘Home’ tab. This floating action button has a play icon. The ‘Play Something’ text is written in white on a black background, matching the rest of the app’s theme.
9to5Google says that tapping on the button starts a video in the Shorts player. However, this feature isn’t limited to YouTube Shorts—it also applies to regular content, which is displayed in a portrait interface. The layout includes large, easily accessible buttons for like, dislike, comments, and sharing on the right, along with a timeline scrubber at the bottom for seamless navigation.
When the miniplayer is active, the Play something button disappears. The feature was spotted in the latest YouTube app version 19.50 for Android. There’s no word on when or if the feature would be rolled out for everyone.
The streaming platform has rolled out a number of updates for its app in the past few months. This includes an improved mini player, a redesigned YouTube app on TV, QR code-based collaboration for YouTube playlists, and more. It recently also expanded the auto-dubbing feature to thousands of more creators on the platform who are a part of the YouTube Partner Program.
Once you upload any video like you normally would, with auto-dubbing, YouTube will automatically detect the language of your video and create dubbed versions in other languages. YouTube says that if your video is in English, it will be dubbed into French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. If your video is in any other language, it will be dubbed into English.