Google has rolled out a new indicator that will appear around a channel avatar on mobile whenever that channel is broadcasting live on YouTube.
How to know when a YouTube channel is streaming live?
Whenever a channel goes live on YouTube, a new TikTok-style ring appears around the channel’s avatar. Hitting the ring will immediately take you to the live stream. This feature is already available on the desktop version of YouTube and makes it easier to find live content while browsing YouTube.
Neal Mohan, Alphabet YouTube’s chief product officer, officially announced the new YouTube Live ring indicator in a post on Twitter. It read: “Our focus is to make it easier for users to find live streams on YouTube, so we’re rolling out the LiveStreams feature on mobile phones.” ”。“ YoTube Creators Live Channel will now have a ring around the channel avatar, and tapping on the avatar will take you directly into the live stream. ”
If you see a ringtone similar to the one on TikTok or Instagram that indicates live streaming, you’ll feel right at home. Instagram also hangs a ring around the channel avatar when there is live content. We can’t confirm if the new YouTube live ring also appears on the short video.
For what it’s worth, we didn’t see the new Live ring indicator on the YouTube app on our devices at the time of writing. This isn’t something to write home about: Major developers—and Google is one of them—prefer releasing new features in stages. The new indicator is available in the latest version of the mobile YouTube app for iOS and Android.
If you don’t have it already, check back later.
iDB’s take on YouTube’s Live ring indicator
YouTube’s Live indicator expands on the ways users can tell that their favorite channel is in live-streaming mode. It’s a meaningful improvement that brings parity between the desktop version of YouTube, which has had these rings for quite some time now, and its mobile counterpart.
This isn’t the only way Google makes it easy to get notified when your favorite channel is about to start a scheduled live stream. For instance, the service can send you a push notification when a specific broadcast goes live. You can see that feature in action whenever an Apple event is about to be streamed via YouTube.
First, Apple publishes a live video on YouTube that isn’t really broadcasting live but serves as a placeholder for the upcoming live stream. Users can then choose “Notify Me” if they’d like to receive a YouTube live stream push notification for that channel.
Other YouTube improvements
Google is also working on other improvements and enhancements for YouTube, like an updated desktop interface that permits you to read comments and watch videos at the same time. A similar feature was recently brought to the mobile app, with a refreshed video player providing instant access to the Like, Dislike, Share, and Comments buttons in fullscreen mode, as evidenced in the image above.
