YouTube is the number one video-sharing platform that is widely used for watching entertainment videos, watching live stream events and so on. The YouTube app is accessed by billions of people on a daily basis. Prior to the app, people used the YouTube website to watch videos.
Ever since the YouTube app came out, many users have shifted their focus from the main website to the App. The company has always tried to maintain and enhance the user experience with new updates to fix bugs and add new features.
YouTube Widget
YouTube has introduced a new YouTube Widget for iOS. Widgets give you easy access to the most useful part of an app so that you can easily access it with just one tap. With this feature, YouTube app users can do something real quick without necessarily having to open the full app. YouTube has recently released 2 different homescreen Widgets for iPhone and iPad devices. The new widgets are called ‘Quick Actions Widget’ and ‘Search Widget’.
Quick Actions Widget
The ‘Quick Actions Widget’ measures 4×2. It has a normal YouTube Search area where you can quickly search for anything you want on YouTube. It also includes another microphone button on the right of the search bar that allows users to do voice input search on YouTube. It also has other three buttons including a home button, shortcut button, and a Subscriptions button.
The Home button will bring the user directly to the YouTube home screen just like the main YouTube app does. While the second shortcut button is for YouTube Shorts. When you tap it, it will lead you to the YouTube Shorts page. You can enjoy only short videos on YouTube without any interference. On the other hand, the third and last Subscriptions button will allows users to watch videos only from the channels that you have subscribed to.
Search Widget
The second ‘Search Widget’ measures 2×2. It will be very convenient for users who use YouTube mainly for searching content. This will help user who mainly search for a particular content on the app. This particular widget does not also fill up a lot of space on your homescreen due to its minimal design.
Both apps have the white background and the dark mode feature. But it picks this feature based on the theme you are using. If you are using a dark mode theme, it gives you a dark background. If you are using a white background, you get the same white background from the app.
How to activate the YouTube Widget
- As the feature comes with an update, you need to update your YouTube app first before you can use the YouTube Widget.
- After updating the app, open the app and then close it again.
- Tap and hold on an empty space on your homescreen for a few seconds.
- The widget picker feature will pop up on the top left corner of your phone.
- You should find the YouTube Widgets amongst the widgets.
Ms Kalinga