YouTube Music has decided to make it to ‘start radio’ from the song you are currently playing. As reported by Android Police this action will now only take a couple of taps.
YouTube Music has made a series of improvements to its platform throughout 2020 and into 2021. This followed the migration over from Google Play Music which was fraught with problems. As a result, the company worked hard to improve its offering to appease users.
Some of these new features have included the rumoured ability to share songs onto Instagram and Snapchat. This aims to help the integration of the platform to other social media sites.
A redesign to the layout of YouTube Music has also come to the platform. The new grid layout has rolled out widely following a series of tests in 2020.
Many of these changes have been simple UI upgrades to aid the experience. This change to ‘start radio’ on YouTube Music reflects this with the aim to help users navigate the platform that bit easier.
YouTube Music makes it easier to access ‘start radio’
YouTube Music is well known for its solid recommendations process. In partnership with Google, the algorithms in place more often than not bring up content users like to watch or listen to.
Due to the popularity of these recommendations on YouTube Music, the app is making it simpler to “start radio”. From now if you tap and album’s artwork there is an option to initiate ‘start radio’ as shown below.
This sits above other options such as share, add to playlist, and download buttons. When you tap this it will show that the Up Next tab has been updated to show the relevant tracks.
Prior to this users could only access the ‘start radio’ option by accessing the overflow menu at the top right, as shown on the right.
This option remains but given it is nowhere near as convenient there is little reason to continue using it. You can also initiate ‘start radio’ by long-pressing a song from a playlist then accessing the feature from a menu.
Currently, the update is rolling out amongst Android users. It may not have reached everyone just yet so if you cannot access it try restarting the app to initiate this change.
No doubt YouTube Music will have more updates to come over the months of 2021. Many will likely be small tweaks like this but when the aid user experience even a little they are always welcome.