YouTube has rolled out an overhaul to its playback speed controls for Android and iOS apps. The new interface has a compact design that appears at the bottom of the screen, replacing the previous large increments sheet that took up almost half the screen. Users now have access to five preset speeds in pill-shaped containers: 0.25x, 1.0x (normal), 1.25x, 1.5x, and 2.0x, as well as reported by 9to5Google.

Credit: 9to5Google

They added a slider to adjust the playback speed in steps of 0.05. Users can adjust the speed by dragging the slider or using the newly added “plus” and “minus” buttons. The current speed increment is displayed above the slider.

The new controls are useful for users who frequently adjust playback speeds for various purposes, such as studying or following tutorials.

The update is rolling out as a server-side update for YouTube version 19.43 for Android and version 19.44 for iOS. Once users update their apps to the latest version, the new interface should appear automatically.

This playback speed control overhaul follows other recent YouTube updates, which include mini-player improvements, a new sleep timer feature, and a settings overhaul.

Overall, I’m glad YouTube introduced this change. The previous large sheet of increments took up almost half the screen for no reason: a waste of screen space.