Twitter user @iamstake was the first to notice the change on the YouTube homepage. According to 9To5Google, the move now allows some users to watch videos from the homepage without having to click through to them. Additionally, there also are some limited controls for audio, closed caption, and the ability to scrub the video progress bar. It is unclear if the progress made in a video will be retained once you scroll past it, as we haven’t had a chance to test the feature ourselves (it appears to be rolling out to a limited number of users). However, multiple YouTubers have reported being able to control the sound and scroll through the video to the points they want to see. The current autoplay feature always restarts videos when you scroll past them and then back up, so it is possible that this could still be the case with this first iteration of the feature. Being able to watch videos directly from your homepage will be a useful change. If you are not sure the video interests you, you always can scrub through it to see if anything else catches your eye. YouTube hasn’t made any official announcements about this feature, and 9To5Google says it could just be an A/B test to see how users like the new feature. If it is not generally well received, it is possible YouTube could ditch it and remain with the standard autoplay format, making it entirely possible you never receive this update.
