It feels like it should have been here ages ago, but YouTube has finally updated its iOS app so that everyone can view vertical videos as they were meant to be seen: in full screen, rather than turned sideways with black bars on the sides.
YouTube announced plans to introduce this feature back in August, and some users have already had it activated. But as of this week, it’s being enabled for everyone.
As easy as it is to hate on vertical video, vertical video just looks good on a phone — it’s the way your phone is meant to be held, and it takes up every inch of screen space. With more and more vertical video being uploaded to YouTube, it only makes sense for the app to get updated to display things properly (especially since this feature has been on Android for two years now).
One weird caveat: you’re likely to stumble across vertical videos that won’t go full screen, like this Selena Gomez music video. It turns out, there are a lot of “vertical” videos on YouTube that are actually encoded with black bars on the sides, meaning they’re technically landscape videos.
Most of the vertical videos I’ve tried to play so far have been this way, which means they end up playing back in landscape. Hopefully, videos will stop being uploaded this way now that YouTube fully supports vertical playback.
But for now, expect there to still be a confusing transition period.
Bye bye, black bars. 👋
— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 19, 2017
Now the YouTube player on iOS will automatically adapt to the shape of the video you”™re viewing! pic.twitter.com/4jzJ6nPj4G
Latest Stories
-
West Africa Food Festival uniting the continent – Africa Chefs Alliance President
30 mins -
Over 40 health facilities completed under Akufo-Addo’s tenure, Okoe-Boye reveals
58 mins -
Reflect integrity, become problem solvers – Graduates told
1 hour -
ILO Valuation Report based on assumptions – SSNIT
1 hour -
NDC won’t allow you to impose your successor on Ghanaians arrogantly – Mahama to Akufo-Addo
1 hour -
Dumsor: Okoe-Boye advises hospitals to use generators
1 hour -
Akufo-Addo’s insistence that chiefs stand up to greet him worrying, disrespectful – Mahama
1 hour -
First Atlantic Bank wins ‘Digital Bank of the Year’
2 hours -
Ejisu by-election comes off today
2 hours -
Cedi to weaken further; year-to-date depreciation hits 13.35%
2 hours -
Bond market: Total market turnover declined by 32.36% to GH¢772.30m
2 hours -
Fuel price increases expected to slow down in coming days – IES
2 hours -
Prisons Service says it is probing officers vs. soldiers clash in Bawku
2 hours -
Border restrictions impact businesses and residents amid Togo elections
3 hours -
We’ve helped close leakage gaps – SML maintains
3 hours