Get the most out of the YouTube app on your mobile with these 7 hidden features. Step by step, we explain how to use them.
YouTube is such a popular video app that we all think we know her perfectly well. However, it hides a few key secrets to be able to get the most out of it. If you are one of those who use it with some frequency, in this article we are going to discover you 7 hidden features in the YouTube app for mobile devices you should try.
These are the most varied tools, ranging from protecting your privacy until the configuration of elements as useful as subtitles. Google has done a great job of developing the YouTube app, and that is demonstrated by the hidden functions that we will see below. Step by step, we teach you how to use them so that YouTube stops hiding secrets from you.
Get the most out of YouTube with these hidden in-app tricks.
Pausing playback and search history
YouTube history collect all the videos you have seen from your account, as well as all the research you’ve done. This can be positive, as it allows you to easily find videos that you watched a long time ago. However, this also means that anyone with access to your account can view this history.
If you want to protect your privacy, in the YouTube app you can pause playback and search the log for as long as you want. Here’s how you can do it:
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Access a “History and Private Life”.
- Check the boxes “Pause watch history” there “Pause search history”.
When you want YouTube to re-save your history of videos you’ve watched and searches you’ve done, just uncheck both boxes by following the recently explained steps.
Disable video autoplay
One of the most well-known features of the platform is video autoplay, i.e. when you are done watching a video, YouTube automatically shows you another one without you touching anything. This tool is useful, for example, when listening to music, because YouTube keeps playing songs it knows you like. However, if you don’t like it, you can disable autoplay in a few easy steps.
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Access a “Autoplay”.
- Uncheck the box “Autoplay next video”.
Create clips with your favorite moments
At the beginning of 2021, the “Clips” function arrived in the YouTube application, one of the most useful you can use. Basically, with this tool you can create short clips with favorite moments from a video. This way you will generate a link that will give access to the clip you made. so can create video clips on youtube:
- Open the YouTube app and enter the video from which you want to create the clip.
- Click on the “Clip” option which appears below the video title, represented by a scissors icon.
- Write a title for the clip, it’s mandatory. After, select the specific fragmentwho can be 5 to 60 seconds. The default clip is 15 seconds, but you can zoom in and out with the sliders.
- When you’re done editing, click “Share excerpt”.
- Select the platform you want to share it on as a link and voila, you will have already created and shared a YouTube clip.
By clicking on the link you created, any user can access the video clip you selected. After, you can share it with others and watch the original video full.
Set reminders to give yourself a break
YouTube can be a really addictive platform, catch you for hours and hours watching videos of interest to you. Considering that YouTube analyzes your viewing history, its algorithms know exactly what you like and teach you continuously if you have autoplay enabled.
In addition to disabling this last function, to give you a break from YouTube, it is useful activate a reminder that recommends that you take a break from time to time. Here’s how you can do it:
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Go to section “General”.
- Check the box “Remind Me to Take a Break”.
- Choose the reminder frequency.
Activate restricted mode for the little ones
The little ones in the house can have access to your mobile, or even use YouTube to be entertained while watching their favorite videos. However, this can be dangerous, because on the platform there are also videos considered adult or mature content. That’s why he is restricted mode, to block access to these videos. With these steps, you can activate it in seconds:
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Go to section “General”.
- Activate the option “restricted mode”.
As YouTube explains in the option itself, this feature is used to hide videos with adult content, but its operation is not 100% infallible. In addition, its activation only works for the device from which you carried out the procedure, in our case, the mobile.
Schedule a daily recap with all your notifications
You might not know it, but the streaming service gives you the opportunity to consolidate all daily YouTube notifications into one so you can catch up at a glance. This way, instead of receiving all notices separately, you receive a single notification at the time you choose with all the information that you missed
For example, this tool is useful if you are one of those who access YouTube at night. You can set the summary to 10 p.m. and so on you’ll see all the content that the channels you follow have posted. Here’s how this daily summary is enabled with all notifications:
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Go to section “Notices”.
- Check the box “Scheduled Summary”.
- Choose the time you want to receive the digest and press “OK” to save the settings.
Choose the appearance of the subtitles
YouTube subtitles don’t have to be as you see them, from the app itself you can change your look easily. In fact, YouTube gives you access to your own phone’s subtitle settings, thus also changing the subtitles you’ll see on the video platform. This way you can switch from font size to caption style.
- Open the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture, located in the upper right corner.
- Enter the section “Setting”.
- Go to section “Subtitles”.
- Press on “Subtitle size and style” and choose the configuration you like the most. In the picture above you can see the preview.
If you use these hidden features of YouTube, the video application will be much more useful to youor at least it will be better suited to your usage needs.