4 ms·

+1 particularly upsetting for apps like YouTube.

Lammy 7y ago
It’s a paid feature for YouTube. They want you to pay up for background playback, so they won’t risk the free version being too convenient.
- theshrike79 7y ago
  I've resorted to using YouTube with Safari when I want to watch a video in Picture-in-Picture mode. I'm NOT paying a monthly fee for a feature that basic.
  - Tagbert 7y ago
    You're not paying for the feature, it is a hostage situation and you would be paying to get a proper user experience.
- The_rationalist 7y ago
  And it is free with kiwi or Firefox + extension
  - Lammy 7y ago
    Or with my iOS jailbreak :)
- lloeki 7y ago
  Bringing you back to the main landing screen with regularity looks like a simple way to push the user towards looking at suggested videos again.
- leokennis 7y ago
  Ugh I hate the YouTube app so much. Every 3rd open is a "want to try premium?" popover, like some beggar on the street. Closing a video requires 2 precisely positioned and executed swipes. Everything looks like an Android app, like all Googles apps for iOS. Just terrible.
  - dan-robertson 7y ago
    Well I agree that there’s a lot to hate about the app but if it means YouTube can move to a business model that doesn’t rely on surveillance and advertising then I think I can’t really complain too much
- kalleboo 7y ago
  Even if you pay for Premium, it will forget what video you were looking on if the video was paused when you put it in the background. Especially infuriating if you're double-checking something on the web to reply to a comment
  - layoutIfNeeded 7y ago
    The most disgusting dark pattern is that the comment thread will jump to the top if an ad starts playing.
- dep_b 7y ago
  First there was no background playback on iOS because Google needed to show how bad iOS was at multi-tasking, even with all of the relevant API's for background media already in place. Now they degraded the Android user experience to match that so they can sell what could have been possible from almost the beginning as an upgrade. I guess YouTube finally smothered all the competition with unlimited free money from Google and can now start to squeeze it's userbase.
pzmarzly 7y ago
I think YouTube app is user-hostile on purpose and has similar behavior on Android. I mean, My biggest pain point with it is that after switching to another video, you can’t go back to the previous one without visiting account history. At least I couldn’t find a way to do that, and when I asked a friend who I knew was spending few hours a day in that app, he didn’t even know that there was such a problem (why would you ever want to navigate back?). I’ve been using Ivory for iOS as NewPipe replacement, but it’s still much inferior, especially when it comes to updates (for example, it cannot play videos right now due to YouTube API change, and past experiences taught me it will take at least a week before developer fixes it).
- ajconway 7y ago
  On iOS you can tap on the video to bring up controls and the go-back button will navigate to the previous video
  - mercer 7y ago
    I find that more often than not, this doesn't work. I've not quite figured out the 'rules' to it, but it's so inconsistent that I usually don't even bother trying.

It’s a paid feature for YouTube. They want you to pay up for background playback, so they won’t risk the free version being too convenient.

theshrike79 7y ago
I've resorted to using YouTube with Safari when I want to watch a video in Picture-in-Picture mode. I'm NOT paying a monthly fee for a feature that basic.
- Tagbert 7y ago
  You're not paying for the feature, it is a hostage situation and you would be paying to get a proper user experience.
The_rationalist 7y ago
And it is free with kiwi or Firefox + extension
- Lammy 7y ago
  Or with my iOS jailbreak :)
lloeki 7y ago
Bringing you back to the main landing screen with regularity looks like a simple way to push the user towards looking at suggested videos again.
leokennis 7y ago
Ugh I hate the YouTube app so much. Every 3rd open is a "want to try premium?" popover, like some beggar on the street. Closing a video requires 2 precisely positioned and executed swipes. Everything looks like an Android app, like all Googles apps for iOS. Just terrible.
- dan-robertson 7y ago
  Well I agree that there’s a lot to hate about the app but if it means YouTube can move to a business model that doesn’t rely on surveillance and advertising then I think I can’t really complain too much
kalleboo 7y ago
Even if you pay for Premium, it will forget what video you were looking on if the video was paused when you put it in the background. Especially infuriating if you're double-checking something on the web to reply to a comment
- layoutIfNeeded 7y ago
  The most disgusting dark pattern is that the comment thread will jump to the top if an ad starts playing.
dep_b 7y ago
First there was no background playback on iOS because Google needed to show how bad iOS was at multi-tasking, even with all of the relevant API's for background media already in place. Now they degraded the Android user experience to match that so they can sell what could have been possible from almost the beginning as an upgrade. I guess YouTube finally smothered all the competition with unlimited free money from Google and can now start to squeeze it's userbase.

pzmarzly 7y ago

I think YouTube app is user-hostile on purpose and has similar behavior on Android. I mean, My biggest pain point with it is that after switching to another video, you can’t go back to the previous one without visiting account history. At least I couldn’t find a way to do that, and when I asked a friend who I knew was spending few hours a day in that app, he didn’t even know that there was such a problem (why would you ever want to navigate back?). I’ve been using Ivory for iOS as NewPipe replacement, but it’s still much inferior, especially when it comes to updates (for example, it cannot play videos right now due to YouTube API change, and past experiences taught me it will take at least a week before developer fixes it).

ajconway 7y ago
On iOS you can tap on the video to bring up controls and the go-back button will navigate to the previous video
- mercer 7y ago
  I find that more often than not, this doesn't work. I've not quite figured out the 'rules' to it, but it's so inconsistent that I usually don't even bother trying.