Hey y'all!
I know I haven't posted a ton on here in a while, mostly because I forget I have an account...but I have to make this known right now.
YouTube, as of today 11 November 2024, on the android and TV app is absolutely ABYSMAL to use. I will reblog with a series of reasons why, but I can outline my main points. Be warned, this is a loooooong one. Get your Worms on Strings and Furrets ready, smack your bellies like Monty Mole, and prepare some tea with Chandelure and Mii as we go through the main issues detailed here with the new Youtube App Update on Android:
- The new floating mini player that "randomly" flies off the screen and closes out in the middle of the video you watch and gets in the way of anything you want to do with PIP mode within the app.
- Videos suddenly pause and being unable to resume where you left off when you press the play button
- Speaking of random and sudden pauses, YouTube also now has a "feature" (read: BUG) that after a while of playing a video, if you're in Vertical/Portrait layout to read the comments easily and do something else, the video doesn't play anymore. You'll have to turn to Horizontal/Landscape mode to resume the video (If the problem is not the previously mentioned inability to resume)
- In some cases YouTube COMPLETELY froze up while I've used this since the update. For no reason.
- On the TV app, even for videos that are no more than 20-40 minutes max (we're not talking stream vods or compilation videos) get hit with six or seven ads at a time and you can only skip if it's either some three minute trailer or after four ads.
- YouTube won't let you block certain ads that you've reported for scam fraud, inappropriate to you, repetitive etc just to cajole you into buying their premium. Literal scam ads about fake US Stimulus Healthcare checks, false auto insurance for "only $18/month" that will come through your information, and literal porn game ads every time I watch. I don't ask for that.
- Trying to upload shorts (the thing that is heavily pushed to compete with Tiktok and Instagram Reels?) is also now a pain in the ass.
You'll hear more from me soon, I'm collecting everything I need to make a viable rant on this and eventually make this into a video.
Point 1: The new mini player is MESSY!
You can't turn off the Floating mini player in the settings of this app. You can't do that anymore; even if Picture-in-Picture mode is not active, YouTube won't give a crap and return to how they used to handle the mini player (having the video play at the bottom of the screen like a "Now Playing" tab on Spotify). It didn't take up the screen and made it easier to navigate other YouTube videos you'd want to watch as well as check the notifications you received easily.
Why?? Why does this have to be covering up videos and thumbnails I may wanna scroll down and see?
Granted, this is similar to how the desktop version handles the picture-in-picture mini player, but please understand one thing about the desktop version of YouTube: you're guaranteed to not only have a larger screen for your video viewing pleasure, but you also are able to see everything you need to see (notifications, video uploads and community posts to name a few) without the video flying all around the screen(s) while multitasking. It's entirely possible for your PIP video to completely stop playing and/or be closed out randomly when you're just trying to use the app normally. What a shameful little update.