If you try to ever track your YouTube usage, you may realize that’s where most of your time goes, whether it’s on mobile or the web. Being the biggest online video content library, YouTube attracts millions of users daily, scrolling through piles of channels, music videos, and even free movies. Plus, after the success of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music, the number of users and paid subscribers have nothing but increased drastically.
So, find out yourself which of the following ones you were never aware of:
Also Read – YouTube to MP3 Chrome Extension
Best YouTube Tips and Tricks for YouTube Optimization
1. Hop Video Using Number Keys
If you’re watching YouTube on the web, you can use your number keys to hop video to a certain point. When you press a number on the keyboard while playing a YouTube video, the video jumps to the point if that number’s corresponding percentage.
For example, if you press 5, you’d be hopped 50% into the video’s timeline. Then if you press 2, you’d hop back to the point where video has already played 20% of the total time.
2. Customize Length of Fast Skip in the YouTube App
So, when you double-tap on-screen while playing a YouTube video on mobile, you can jump forward or backward 10 seconds in the video. It depends on what side of the screen you’ve tapped that decide you’ll hop forward or fall backward.
But did you know, there is a YouTube trick that allows you to modify this time length, which everyone believes is fixated on 10 secs? Well, in YouTube mobile app, you can change the size of the jump your video makes when you double-tap on either side of the screen. Just follow these simple steps:
- Step 1: Tap Profile Image and head to Settings.
- Step 2: Here select General Settings.
- Step 3: Tap on option Double-Tap to Seek and change the jump size.
3. YouTube Trick for Toggling Playback Speed
This is one of the YouTube tips and tricks that many people don’t know about. If you’re watching a TED Talk or some long video, you may as well increase the playback speed. There’s no major disturbance if you increase the playback speed upto 1.5x.
If you Press (Shift+.), you can increase the playback speed by 0.25x. To reduce the playback speed by the same figure, Press (Shift+,). This way, you’d be able to go through long tutorial videos and TED speeches in a comparatively lesser amount of time.
4. Adjust Your Video Player Size Using Keyboard
YouTube automatically adjusts your video player size depending upon the size of your browser window. But there are player modes you can switch by pressing a few keyboard keys. This YouTube trick allows you to set your video player in a position you desire without toggling the mouse cursor. There are three video player modes you can switch to:
- Theatre Mode: Press T
- Full-Screen Mode: Press F
- Mini-Payer Mode: Press M (Your Player will slide down in a bottom corner of the screen)
To set the video player size to default, press the key you earlier pressed again and the command would be reversed.
Even in the YouTube mobile app, you can slide down the video player, and it would convert into a mini-player box at the bottom of the screen.
5. Bookmark Videos in Multiple Playlists
If you want to save a video for the future to either watch it later or just to save it, you can bookmark them using this simple YouTube trick. When you watch a video on YouTube, there is a Save button you can see on-screen. When you click on it, you’d see a pre-created bookmark section named Watch Later.
You can either save your playlist in Watch Later category or can create your own playlist. For example, in this screenshot below, I’ve created two playlists, My Trailers, and My Songs. This way you can also have your own music video library over YouTube.
You can later access these videos from the Menu, where all your created playlists are listed.
This feature is also available in the YouTube mobile app and is used in a similar manner. The only difference is that you tap on Save button rather than using a mouse.
6. YouTube Trick for Audio-Only Playback on YouTube Mobile
In case you have purchased any of the paid streaming services from Google, for example – Google Play Music, YouTube Premium, or YouTube Premium, you can activate an audio-only option on YouTube.
On Android Devices, you can look for audio-only controls using this YouTube trick:
- Step 1: Play a video and go to your mobile’s Home Screen.
- Step 2: Drag the picture-in-picture box to the bottom of the screen.
- Step 3: In the notification panel, you’ll find audio-only controls for YouTube.
In iOS, using this YouTube trick becomes much easier. In iOS devices, the video would automatically go into an audio-only mode when you go back to the home screen.
7. YouTube Downloads on Mobile App
On YouTube, there are certain videos you can store for offline viewing, which remains in the offline Downloads section for a certain time period. But, if you’ve paid for any of the aforementioned Google streaming services, you can very well download any video for offline viewing.
Though it is available for mobile-only, there is a way to take these videos on a bigger screen if you own a Chromebook. ChromeOS supports all Android applications. Download YouTube on Chromebook and then you can easily view your offline download on YouTube on a laptop screen.
8. YouTube Incognito
Well, here is privacy associated YouTube tip-cum-trick to avoid Google scan your searches. Though a lot of people are already aware of this YouTube trick, for the uninitiated, you can explore your videos on YouTube without anyone prying on you via the YouTube mobile app.
All you need to do is tap on your profile picture and then click on Turn On Incognito to go dark.
This is one of Google’s addition in its privacy plan. A similar feature was recently added to Google Maps.
You may not be able to go complete incognito onYouTube web, but you can turn your watch history off to avoid Google track your searches. Follow these steps to turn of watch history on YouTube:
- Step 1: Go to Menu and click on History
- Step 2: Enable Pause Watch History
Until you turn it back on, YouTube history would be paused and you won’t be bothered with YouTube recommendations. YouTube has also enabled an auto-delete history feature recently.
9. YouTube Tip to Hide Subscriptions and Liked Videos
YouTube keeps your subscriptions and you liked videos public by default. But you can hide your preferences from the world by going through the steps below:
- Step 1: Go to Settings.
- Click on Privacy and check the boxes to keep your preferences private.
With these (probably) unknown YouTube tricks and tips you can very well organize and optimize the YouTube settings and use it with ease and under complete privacy. Being one of the most preferred video streaming services, and having such a large userbase, it’s essential that users know how to keep their YouTube preferences private and toggle through videos with as much ease as possible.
Let us know in the comments which YouTube tips and tricks from the list you found most useful. Also, let us know of some more YouTube hacks you’re aware of in the comments. And for more latest updates on similar tips and tricks for your daily tech. Experiences, add us on your Facebook and Twitter feeds now!