YouTube tests new ‘Play Something’ button: Here's what it does

YouTube

YouTube is testing a floating ‘Play Something’ button on the Android application, which will randomly suggest videos to simplify content discovery. Moreover, tapping the button will play a video that has been selected by YouTube, taking the user's video preference into account.

YouTube has introduced a new ‘Play Something’ button, which will recommend videos to users to simplify content discovery or endless scrolling on the app. According to a latest report by 9to5Google, the ‘Play Something’ button appears as a floating action button on the latest beta version of the YouTube app on Android.

YouTube’s ‘Play Something’ button: Here’s how it works

The report adds that the ‘Play Something’ button is designed as a floating action button (FAB) with a white text color on the play icon with a black background. When tapped, it opens short videos. Notably, the button plays YouTube Shorts videos in vertical format and plays regular long-form videos in portrait format. This may feel odd for many viewers, especially those who watch long regular videos and hopefully YouTube will fix this issue in the coming updates.

Further, the curated videos from the ‘Play Something’ toggle will enable like, dislike, comment, and share options on the right side of the screen, along with a timeline scrubber at the bottom of the player, just like any Shorts video. The report also mentions that the ‘Play Something’ button disappears whenever the miniplayer is active, indicating that to start new content, you need to use the app’s main interface.

A few months ago, YouTube also announced that it was rolling out a bunch of new improvements and features, which included the ability to set thumbnails for playlists, multiple AI features, and new accessibility features for its miniplayer.