YouTube App Gets Improved Playlist UI on Android TV, Other Smart TV Platforms

Last Updated on December 1, 2021 by Asif Iqbal Shaik

Small changes in apps have great ramifications when it comes to platforms with a reach as wide as smart TVs. The YouTube app on Android TV received one such incremental update to the way it handles playlists. The latest version of the app now displays a proper playlist UI instead of simply playing the first video of the playlist by default.

The rather annoying default playback behaviour was a consequence of the smart TV version of the app lacking a discrete UI element to showcase playlist elements, as seen in the desktop and mobile versions of the YouTube app. Now, YouTube users on smart TVs are presented with a standalone playlist UI, complete with a list of videos on the right-hand side of the screen. Additionally, the left-hand side of the new UI also has three buttons for playing all videos in sequence, looping the entire playlist, and saving it to your YouTube library.

Having first spotted the feature, 9to5Google has received a tip-off suggesting that the updated playlist UI might not be restricted to Android TV alone. Some smart TV users have also spotted the updated playlist UI on Samsung TVs. This is interesting because the company’s smart TVs ship with its own Tizen OS, instead of relying on Google for Android TV licensing. In other words, that means the feature is most likely being rolled out to all versions of YouTube’s TV-optimised app, irrespective of the TV’s brand or operating system used.

9to5Google notes that the feature is being relayed through the latest update of the YouTube app on Android TV and Google TV devices. The specific instance of the app is version 2.15.006. However, there’s a chance that the update may not be tied to a specific app version as Google usually rolls out such features on a server-to-server basis. You might want to update your YouTube smart TV app anyway and check if that works.

Google’s commitment to bring steady quality-of-life and UI improvements to its smart TV version of YouTube is emblematic of the company’s focus on expanding its reach to the older demographic that’s averse to using traditional computers and smartphones for entertainment. Making the YouTube App more user-friendly is a viable strategy to expand its reach to absolutely everyone.