YouTube is reportedly testing new vertical scrolling gestures for its mobile app

YouTube is testing new vertical scrolling gestures for its mobile app that could change the way users navigate the platform and consume content, according to claims on social media. The video streaming platform is said to be testing a change in the outcome of the up and down swipe gestures when full screen mode is enabled in the YouTube app. This development comes especially after speculation that YouTube for Android and iOS would roll out the ability to control video playback speed more complexly.

Currently, swiping up on a video in YouTube’s mobile app switches it to full-screen mode, while swiping down returns the standard view. Additionally, users can watch videos from the suggested, for you, or related tabs by swiping up when full screen view is enabled. The intention is now to change the functionality of these gestures.

In one after on X (formerly Twitter), user Tuhar Mehta (@thetymonbay) highlighted new vertical swipe gestures currently being tested by YouTube. If the proposed changes come to fruition, swiping up on a video will automatically send the user to the next video, instead of minimizing to the default view. This is said to work similarly to the scroll gestures on YouTube Shorts.

Additionally, swiping up when the playback control overlay is on the screen will display a sliding window, allowing the user to scroll through the video frame by frame. However, this change is said to be in testing phase and has not been implemented in the current version of the YouTube mobile app.

Even though this change wasn’t official, users on X didn’t seem to love it. “This is so frustrating. Frustrating enough to make me want to tweet to see if I’m the only one annoyed,” said one user.