Oct 30, 2019
YouTube test features and experiments
YouTube product teams are constantly testing out new tools and features to help you find, watch, share and create content more easily. These test features (sometimes also called “betas” or “experiments”) are usually available for a short period of time and only for a small group of people.
If you ever notice that YouTube looks a bit different for you than it does for your friend or family member, you’re likely seeing one of these experiments. Be sure to give YouTube feedback and report any potential technical issues – our teams use this information and experiment results to help us decide if, when, and how to release these features more broadly.
Learn more about some existing feature experiments
To help you keep up with these test features, our TeamYouTube Community Managers will pilot keeping this forum thread updated with cool and interesting ones that we think you’ll want to know about! While this post won’t include every experiment, it’s a good place to start if you’re curious about what we’re testing out, or whether or not you’re currently seeing an experiment. To learn about previous experiments, check out this post.
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Last edited by Meaghan - TeamYouTube Jul 24, 2024
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Jul 8, 2024
[June 27, 2024] Testing mentions in comments on mobile: We’re experimenting with the ability to mention YouTube channels in comments. If you’re in the experiment group, typing the “@” symbol on an Android or iOS device followed by letters or characters of a channel name / handle in a comment will trigger a recommended list of channels to choose from. From there, select the channel you want to mention > leave your comment > and the handle will appear as the clickable linked mention! While we gather feedback in the experiment phase, only a small group of creators can post comments that include mentions BUT all viewers and creators can engage with these comments 🫶
Aug 12, 2024
- Creators: your videos will continue to be eligible to be recommended to viewers across YouTube, this is just an extra place for audiences to discover your content. In some experiments, your content could be watched in the Shorts Feed and associated metrics attributed to the Shorts Feed in YouTube Analytics
- We'll be looking closely at creator and viewer feedback to hear what you think of the experiment 🎞️💘
Last edited Jan 9, 2025
Aug 28, 2024
[August 28, 2024] Testing new languages for comment topics summarized by AI: We're expanding our comment topics experiment to include all languages supported by YouTube comments (previously comment topics were just available on content in the English language). In case you need a refresher on this feature:
- This feature uses AI to organize large comment sections into easily digestible themes
- If you’re in the experiment group, you’ll see a new option to sort by “✨Topics” on some videos when reading comments on mobile
- Creators in the experiment can use these comment summaries to jump into comment discussions on their videos, or to draw inspiration for new content based on what audiences are discussing! If creators want to remove any ✨Topics, they can delete individual comments that show up under the specific topic. Also, these AI-generated ✨Topics are pulled from published comments only and cannot be created from comments that are held for review, contain blocked words, or are from blocked users
- We heard positive feedback when we launched this feature within large comment sections on English-language videos, so we’re happy to be testing it in more languages across more content! This test is rolling out on the YouTube mobile app to a small number of viewers + on videos with large comment sections
Last edited Aug 28, 2024
Sep 19, 2024
Oct 10, 2024
[October 10, 2024] Testing a prominent "Save" button for Shorts: To make it easier to bookmark Shorts that you love, want to return to, or want to watch later, we’re experimenting with a “Save” button in the Shorts player. If you’re a viewer in the test group, you’ll see the 'Save' icon which you can use to save Shorts to a new or existing playlist. To make room for the Save button, we moved our Shorts player menu around. In this experiment, the "Dislike" button is now housed in the 3-dot menu icon. To dislike a Short and share feedback, click the 3-dot icon in the top right of the Short you’re watching then select 👎 'Dislike' from the menu. We’re rolling this experiment out to a small number of viewers on mobile devices and we’ll keep you updated as the test progresses!
Last edited Oct 10, 2024
Oct 15, 2024
[October 15, 2024] Testing AI-enhanced comment reply suggestions: To make it easier for creators to engage with their viewers via comments, we’re experimenting with updated, AI-enhanced comment reply suggestions that give creators editable suggestions in their own tone and style. If you’re a creator in the experiment, you’ll start to see these suggestions appear in the Comments tab or Community tab in Studio (depending on which Studio experience you have) and on the YouTube mobile app. Comment reply suggestions are completely optional and editable - if you do want to edit a suggestion, simply tap it to edit before posting the comment. This test is rolling out to a small group of creators at first and we’ll let you know when we plan to expand it to more folks!
- We wrote about this experiment and other exciting announcements when recapping the 2024 Made on YouTube event - learn more here ❤️
Nov 11, 2024
Last edited Nov 12, 2024
Nov 12, 2024
[November 12, 2024] Testing restyled soundtracks for Shorts: We’re adding a new capability to our Dream Track experiment. This experimental feature allows a small group of creators to restyle a limited number of official songs made available by select music partners. If you’re a creator in the experiment group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to restyle it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your Short. For example, if you want to give a song a different genre or mood, you simply enter your vision into the ‘Restyle a track’ prompt and you’ll soon have a customized soundtrack that reimagines the music while maintaining the essence of the original song’s vocals and lyrics.
- These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI 🎶
Last edited Nov 12, 2024
Dec 5, 2024
Dec 9, 2024
[December 9, 2024] Testing new multiplayer games on YouTube Playables:
We’re beginning to test a new multiplayer feature for a few select games on YouTube Playables. Multiplayer on Playables lets you play games in real-time with other users. We’re starting our tests with two games: Ludo Club and Magic Tiles 3 on desktop and mobile devices. We're just getting started testing out new features for YouTube Playables with more to come in the future 👥!
Last edited Dec 9, 2024
Dec 16, 2024
[December 16, 2024] Testing voice replies to comments: We’re experimenting with a feature that enables creators to reply to comments with their voice. If you’re a creator in the test group (only on iOS) and want to try it out: Navigate to one of your videos via the YouTube app > Find a comment you want to respond to > Tap 'Reply' > Tap the sound wave icon > Record a voice reply > Post it as a comment. While we gather feedback in the experiment phase, voice replies can only be left by creators in the test group on your own channels, but all viewers and creators can engage with these comments. We hope that the voice reply experiment enables more meaningful relationships between creators and their audiences 🔊!
Last edited Jan 15, 2025
Jan 7, 2025
Last edited Jan 7, 2025
5 days ago