We’ve all been there. You’re watching a YouTube video on your phone and just as things get to the good part, boom! A bunch of pop-ups clutter the screen pushing other videos, subscribe buttons, and random links right in your face. Those end screen elements have been bugging users for years, but YouTube has finally listened. The platform just rolled out a new YouTube hide button that lets you dismiss those pesky pop-ups and actually see the content you came for.
The new feature is pretty straightforward. When end screens pop up during the last few seconds of a video, you’ll see a “Hide” button in the top right corner of the player. Tap it and those overlays disappear instantly. Want them back? There’s a “Show” button that’ll bring everything back.
There’s one catch though. The hide button only works for the current video you’re watching. You’ll need to tap it again on the next video if you want a clean viewing experience. It’s not a global setting, but hey, at least we finally have the option.
YouTube ran some tests before rolling this out and found that letting people hide end screens only decreased views from those elements by less than 1.5%. So creators shouldn’t panic about losing tons of traffic.
The company also cleaned up the desktop experience by removing that subscribe button that appeared when hovering over video watermarks. Since there’s already a subscribe button below every video, this change makes sense.
This update shows YouTube is actually listening to user feedback for once. Sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest difference in day to day usage.
The post YouTube Finally Adds Hide Button to Ditch Those Annoying End Screen Pop-ups appeared first on Phandroid.
