Finally, the TikTok-plague is hitting the YouTube app. As per a new report by Android Police, YouTube has started pushing the TikTok-style Shorts feature for YouTube users across the globe.
While YouTube Shorts was already under testing in multiple countries such as India. However, with its global launch, YouTube has now tweaked it to make it more appealing and similar to TikTok videos.
Instead of the previous 15-seconds video, you can now create 60 seconds recording on YouTube Shorts. Moreover, YouTube has also added some filters to change the color and vibe.
Further, YouTube Shorts videos will now show auto-generated captions. Users can also set it to manual if they want. These changes only hint towards the fact that YouTube Shorts are a direct competitor to TikTok.
Just like TikTok, you can create a 60 seconds horizontal video on YouTube Shorts. It will keep running in the loop by default. For users like me, who hate TikTok, YouTube has changed the interface of the app’s homescreen to give a dedicated space to Shorts.
The good-old Explore tab is now demoted and moved to the top of the homepage. And in place of Explore, YouTube has positioned the Shorts tab.
The new YouTube UI was spotted by users in India and the US
Since the feature is now rolling out globally, the new YouTube UI was spotted by several users in India and the US. Personally, I do not like this repositioning and change in the UI of the YouTube app. But that’s what it is now.
Creators will be able to add filters to their Shorts videos and share them with their subscribers. Considering the popularity of this short video format feature during its trial run, we believe that from now on, you will probably see a lot of Shorts videos bombarding your app.
It would have been nice on Google’s part to provide an option for disabling this “Shorts” button for users like me. But on-boarding the short-video trend, Google is clearly hoping to engage a huge audience to its Shorts platform.
As noted by Android Police, the monetization part of Shorts will be interesting to see. YouTube has already failed with the Stories format, which provided no value to the creators or viewers.
If you haven’t received the new change in your YouTube app’s UI, then you should probably look for an update on the Play Store to be sure. Or else wait for Google to push the server-side update.