Over the last couple of months, Google has released a couple of design changes for the YouTube app on Android. These include a test to show channel previews in the comments section, a new Explore tab to help users find new videos, new filters in the subscription feed, a UI update to move the comments section below the video description. Now, according to a recent report from Android Police, YouTube has added a new gesture to help users quickly exit a fullscreen video.

Up until now, the YouTube app on Android required users to tap on a fullscreen video to surface the controls and then click the fullscreen toggle in the bottom right corner to exit the fullscreen view. While you could use Android 10's back gesture to achieve the same result, the gesture is quite finicky and doesn't always work. As you can see in the clip below, the new swipe gesture allows you to swipe down anywhere on the playback screen to instantly jump back to the video page.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I1kGQHw0ELo

The new gesture adds on to a similar fullscreen gesture that was released last year, which lets you start recommended videos right from the fullscreen view without exiting to the video page first. It's also worth noting that YouTube recently optimized its website for large touchscreen devices, bringing new features like swipe controls to improve functionality. The new swipe down gesture is widely available across all Android devices and in case you don't see it on your phone, we'd recommend updating the YouTube app by following the Play Store link below.

Via: Android Police