Sometimes a YouTube video is so good you want to watch it over and over. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to loop an individual video, but that is seemingly changing, according to new strings of code in the YouTube app for Android.

While digging through version 16.09.34 of the YouTube app on Android we discovered the following strings:

        <string name="single_loop_menu_item">Loop video</string>
<string name="single_loop_off">Off</string>
<string name="single_loop_on">On</string>
<string name="single_loop_snack_bar_button_text">Turn off</string>
<string name="single_loop_snack_bar_text">Video loop is on</string>
    

Currently, you can only loop playlists, which means the only way to loop an individual video is to add it to its own playlist and loop it. That’s not the most complicated workaround, but it’s still baffling you can’t just put an individual video on repeat. You can do it on a desktop, so why not the YouTube app for Android?

After discovering the new strings, however, it looks like Google is preparing to add a loop button to the video playback controls. That means it’ll be really easy to loop a gameplay video, song, or whatever else you find interesting on YouTube. People have recently discovered the world of lo-fi music posted on YouTube, which is a surprisingly great tool for staying focused. Looping those individual videos means you can find your favorite video and keep the music going without worrying about pressing play again when it ends.

Unfortunately, just because we discovered strings of code pointing to the feature in the YouTube app for Android doesn’t mean we know when it’ll launch — or if it will at all. It could take a few weeks or a few months. Whenever it arrives, we’re excited to put it to use. It’ll mean users will no longer have to put a video in its own playlist just to loop it.

The upcoming feature, if it does launch, will go nicely with YouTube’s revamped video player and new gestures on Android.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash