Today, YouTube is rolling out an update that will support Flex Mode on the Galaxy Z Flip. Allowing users to watch videos better in Flex Mode on the latest foldable device from Samsung.
Basically, how the Flex Mode works is that the video will take up the entire upper half of the screen, with the video title, thumbs up, and other content being on the second half of the screen. Though, with most videos shooting in 18:9 aspect ratio now, that means there’s going to be a lot of black space around the video.
However, this also means that you can watch a video on your smartphone without needing to hold it. As it basically has a built-in stand.
Google and Samsung worked together on this feature for months
In a statement from Samsung, apparently its engineers and Google’s engineers worked together on this feature for quite a few months. As it had to redesign the app from the operating system level. “This included integration of the Android Support Library, making it easier to bring Flex Mode to more third-party services.”
This shouldn’t be a huge surprise, Google has been working with manufacturers like Samsung to better support foldable devices over the past year. So to see Google and Samsung working together on this, was pretty much expected.
It’s likely that we’ll see this being added to more apps in the future, possibly even Google’s other video apps like YouTube TV. Which would be very useful, as you can watch TV on your Galaxy Z Flip without having to hold the phone.
Galaxy Z Flip owners can download the optimized YouTube app today
Samsung also mentioned that you can download the Flex mode-optimized version of the YouTube app from the Google Play Store starting today, April 22.
This is going to be version 15.15.38 of the YouTube app, which started rolling out today.
In addition to this, Samsung and Google are also offering up to four months of free YouTube Premium access for new buyers, for up to four months from the date of purchase. And with us watching more and more YouTube these days, while we’re stuck at home, that is a really good thing to include for free. With YouTube Premium, you get the ability to watch YouTube videos ad-free, and also be able to download them for offline playback. That’s great if you don’t have great internet at home, or are on the subway and still want to watch some content.