YouTube Premium presents extra perks that I did not know I used to be paying for

I’ve been subscribed to YouTube Premium for a few years now, and but I didn’t know what I used to be precisely paying for. In my thoughts, I all the time related Premium with an ad-free expertise; with the ability to eliminate all these pesky lengthy and interrupting adverts earlier than or whereas watching a video is alone well worth the worth. Including the household advantages for my husband, and the truth that this works all over the place, together with on our TVs, makes it extra of a no brainer.

What I didn’t know, although, was that Premium packs some smaller however very helpful benefits and options all through the expertise. And people… properly, these, I’ve been counting on for years, and I had no thought they weren’t obtainable free of charge watchers. I had taken them with no consideration, and it was solely after I used YouTube on a secondary free account that I seen they have been lacking.

It’s been a few years since YouTube launched ‘Proceed watching,’ a characteristic I by no means thought I used that usually till I didn’t have it anymore on my secondary account. What this does is actually choose up the video I used to be watching on one gadget and provide the suggestion to proceed it on the second. So if I’m testing our hands-on with the Nothing Telephone 3 on my desktop and I step away for a bit, I can open YouTube on my telephone to seek out the video already there on the underside proper, queued up for me.

This works throughout telephones, net, and TV, and saves me time having to dig into my watch historical past or search to seek out that video I used to be simply watching. It additionally feels releasing in a method, as a result of I do know I don’t have to remain in entrance of my TV or pc to complete watching a video; I can choose it up the place I left off on my telephone.

After I used my free YouTube account, this selection wasn’t there. I instantly seen that YouTube wasn’t providing my paused video as the primary suggestion to look at, and I believed it was a bug or a setting I hadn’t enabled, however after trying into it, I noticed it was solely obtainable for YouTube Premium subscribers. That is what despatched me into this rabbit gap, on the lookout for different equally area of interest however sensible Premium-only options.

I waited years for YouTube to achieve queue administration help, and when it first got here to the net expertise, I used to be thrilled. Then I waited even longer to see it on cell, and now I can’t think about utilizing YouTube with out it. After I’m researching a brand new journey vacation spot, watching movies a couple of new telephone or service for work, or deep-diving into robotic mowers to choose one for my new backyard, I are likely to do a search on YouTube, scroll by all the outcomes, and queue up those I need to watch. Then, I sit again and revel in because it goes by them one after the other. Queues are like my private curation system, they usually’ve grow to be integral to my YouTube expertise.

I assumed, although, that identical to queues on a desktop, these have been obtainable for everybody. Seems that Google has stored this selection unique for Premium subscribers solely on cell phones and tablets. It seems like an aleatory alternative, and it sucks that free customers don’t get it. One of the simplest ways to bypass that is to create a short lived playlist and dump movies in it, watch them, then empty it once you’re completed, i.e., not as sensible as a easy queue.

I don’t all the time use Premium Controls as a result of Google has made them annoying to allow and there’s no solution to drive them to point out up by default on all movies. Nevertheless, they do come in useful after I’m watching a video whereas cooking or working. They’re easy and usually massive buttons that distill YouTube’s essence to 2 rows of icons: playback controls and frequent actions.

To me, a very powerful ones are the pace and high quality pickers, as a result of these often require fidgeting with pop-ups and sub-menus, they usually grow to be extra accessible right here. Nevertheless, I want Google made these customizable. I’d take a captions button over the secure quantity toggle, whereas others could exchange the like button with a sleep timer, for instance.

There’s nonetheless work to be completed right here, and I really feel like Premium Controls have the potential to grow to be one thing like Google Meet’s On-The-Go or Spotify’s Automobile Mode: massive and easy-to-hit important buttons that work properly once you’re busy doing one thing else. Till they’re perfected, perhaps it’s a great factor that Premium Controls aren’t obtainable for everybody.

I need to’ve missed the memo when YouTube made downloads a paid characteristic. I nonetheless bear in mind when the choice first launched and was obtainable to everybody, free and paid customers alike. On the time, I didn’t have my YouTube Premium membership but, and I used to be dwelling in Lebanon, so I made a variety of use of downloads in spotty reception areas. I recall music video downloads not being doable free of charge customers, however that appeared logical as a result of it might exchange Spotify, basically.

Apparently, YouTube took this perk away from non-paying customers a few years later and made it a Premium-only profit. I used to be dwelling in my posh Premium world by then, so I didn’t discover the change. What I feel is unhappy, although, is that this additionally contains sensible downloads, or YouTube’s tireless background work to maintain a couple of movies obtainable offline so you may watch anyplace, anytime.

Sensible downloads have rescued me from lethal boredom after I’d been lazy and forgot to obtain issues to look at on a visit, and that one time I used to be caught in an underground subway for an hour with a really spotty sign. Having these movies prepared, even when I hadn’t curated them myself, saved my sanity. I want Google would provide sensible downloads free of charge customers, too, as a result of it’s a really informal viewing expertise that may come in useful, all with out supplying you with management to obtain and watch precisely what you need.

I’d been listening to in regards to the watch-together idea on Apple FaceTime, Plex, Jellyfin, and different apps and providers, however not on Google Meet. It seems Google already presents this, and you can begin a watch-together session out of your Meet name or begin a Meet name whereas watching a YouTube video, straightforward peasy. I briefly examined it with my husband and we thought it was genius, so we plan on utilizing this each time certainly one of us is away on a piece journey.

It’s one other odd perk to tie to Premium-only subscriptions, although, particularly when Apple is providing it in FaceTime for everybody. I’ll file this additionally below the Google ought to provide it free of charge, but in addition publicize it extra, and make it extra accessible throughout messaging platforms like Google Messages and WhatsApp.

This sums up the odd and sudden Premium-only perks complementing its ad-free and background play expertise. Three of those — Proceed Watching, queues within the cell app, and sensible downloads — are options I exploit each day, and personally, I’d pay for these greater than background play or picture-in-picture. This deep dive has given me a much bigger appreciation for my Premium membership; now, I do know I’m getting extra for my cash than simply advert elimination.