YouTube 5 app for Android brings in app-multitasking

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 20, 2013
Google Android, Youtube
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I ignore video apps on my Android smartphone for the most part as I do not really like to watch videos on a small screen, or on mobile devices. It probably has more do to with me working on a desktop PC throughout the day so that the need to play videos on a mobile rarely arises.

That does not mean that I do not monitor what is going on in that space. Google pushed out an update for Android's native YouTube application that brings it to version 5.0.21. It is a rolled out update as always which means that it may take a while before you can get your hands on it. If you cannot or don't want to wait, get the updated file from Android Police but be careful about that.

The YouTube 5 app for Android features several major improvements over version 4.5.17, the version before. You may notice the new card based interface that appears to be the latest trend in mobile layout design.

The feature that really got me hooked is in-app multitasking. What this means is that you can drag and drop videos to the bottom right corner of the screen where they continue to play while you are browsing the app. It is alternatively possible to tap on the down arrow on the top left corner when a video is on the screen to move it to the lower right corner automatically.

youtube 5 app android

That's a pretty cool feature as you can find more videos, respond to comments or use any of the other features the application has to offer while the video is playing. The rumored background audio feature on the other hand is not integrated and you still need other apps for that purpose.

Still, if you like to multitask on your device, then this app lets you do just that without any problems. The application features two additional improvements that are worth mentioning.

It is now possible to search playlists, something that you were not able to do in previous versions of the application. This may be a big improvement depending on your use of the playlist feature in the app.

The second is the slide-out navigation that you can display when you tap on the menu button at the top left corner of the screen (not visible when you are playing videos by the way).

youtube android

Here you can access playlists, favorites, your playing history and also all of your subscriptions for fast access.

Verdict

If you use the YouTube app on Android, then it is very likely that you will appreciate the latest update to version 5 as it introduces several useful features and changes in the application. Some may criticize Google for making everything big and shiny which can hinder getting a quick overview of what is new and trendy though.

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Comments

  1. LOL said on April 25, 2023 at 2:35 pm
    Reply

    Recently, I had an error with Google Play, I have a Xiaomi Redmi 10C with Android 12 and I’m not sure if it was the phone that caused this or not. The error was basically sometimes when I try to download an app or update one, it would sit in a “pending…” state almost indefinitely and sometimes it would fix itself on its own, sometimes I had to restart the phone, sometimes restarting wouldn’t do anything. I ignored it because eventually the apps would install/update themselves, but recently I received a firmware update for MIUI and I think after that the “pending…” error disappeared.

    I wonder if anyone else had this in the past month…

  2. zon14 said on June 23, 2023 at 6:16 pm
    Reply

    Well, tried everything here and the error still persists. Have a feeling Google bolloxed something and now we all need yet another update for the bug fix.

    1. Peter said on June 26, 2023 at 12:10 am
      Reply

      I have the same problem

      1. Truby said on June 28, 2023 at 7:15 am
        Reply

        Same here

    2. Al Ades said on July 4, 2023 at 6:02 pm
      Reply

      Exactly. Went through all the steps above and checked my GOOG account directly and through Samsung DeX. Unfixable at this point. My son suggested jailbreaking…not a smart idea with possible catastrophic data loss.

    3. Raj kuamr said on July 10, 2023 at 1:33 am
      Reply

      Play store problam

  3. Borked said on June 25, 2023 at 11:44 pm
    Reply

    Same here. Strange thing is, I can tap my photo icon at upper right and update apps as usual from “Manage apps & device”. Also, I’m able to search for apps using the top bar with no issues.

    The monthly firmware update was late this month, so I can’t help but think something got borked by applying that.

  4. Gary Garibaldi said on June 27, 2023 at 1:49 am
    Reply

    Same problem here. Tried all above and other methods found on the internet. Ended up resetting the phone and it worked for 3 days and just started up again. I believes google broke something an an update. I’ll wait for a further update, just hope it comes soon. I’ve already dumped Windows 11 for a MacBook 13 Pro. Guess I’ll look into iPhones. Phone Samsung Galaxy S22 on T-Mobile.

  5. Angelbabe1uk said on June 27, 2023 at 1:59 am
    Reply

    My s23 ultra did android update yesturday and now im getting this error
    Ive tried all the fixes listed non work
    I to can tap my pic in store and update that way but when i load up the store it still shows the error listed here

  6. Anonymous said on July 6, 2023 at 5:56 pm
    Reply

    I have tried all above and nothing worked…then I was playing around in the Settings-> Authentication and I turned on the ‘Biometric Authentication for Google Play purchases on this device’. AND NOW IT WORKS!!!!!

  7. Kelly said on August 3, 2023 at 6:28 pm
    Reply

    Pixel phone has this issue, tried all of the above and still not fixed

  8. Otto said on August 18, 2023 at 4:31 am
    Reply

    Nothing worked on N100

  9. Theojay said on September 26, 2023 at 4:28 pm
    Reply

    Same here

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