Update 1 (02/04/2022 @ 12:34 ET): YouTube for Android has had a similar button in its early days, but was consequently removed for unknown reasons. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on February 3, 2022, is preserved below.

After rolling out a new video player UI, YouTube is now preparing to add yet another useful feature: a dedicated button for launching YouTube Music.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Within the latest APK of YouTube for Android (version 17.05.33_beta), we have discovered some strings that suggest that the app may soon add a new "Listen with YouTube Music" button.

        <string name="listen_with_youtube_music">Listen with YouTube Music</string>
    

This can be useful in a lot of ways. Say, you found a cool track on YouTube but don't want to watch the music video, you can use this button to seamlessly switch to the YouTube Music app and listen to the audio track there. This will be far more convenient than having to quit the YouTube app first, open the YouTube Music app and then search for that track. And once you're inside YouTube Music, you can always check out more music from the same artist, something you can't easily do on YouTube.

Not much is known about the "Listen with YouTube Music" button at this point, including where it will appear and how it will look like. We'll keep an eye out and let you know as soon as we learn more about this new feature.

YouTube is preparing a new feature that will allow users to loop video chapters. In addition, the app is also working on a dedicated voice-over feature for Shorts.


Update

As has been brought to our knowledge, YouTube for Android has had a similar button in the past. But this was removed shortly thereafter for reasons unknown. This button is now making a comeback, as the string addition above suggests. It's possible that the button also made an appearance in some recent versions. We regret the confusion.

What do you think about YouTube's upcoming "Listen with YouTube Music" button? Let us know in the comments below.