YouTube’s ambient mode is one of those features that no one asked for, but Google gave us anyway. Despite the controversial response to theintroduction of ambient modein October of last year, YouTube recently began experimenting with addingambient mode to its full screen video player. Ambient mode is not a significant UI change. Instead, it works to complementYouTube’s new rounded video player. Ambient mode’s glow was previously most evident on the browser, but a recent update brings a more vibrant effect to YouTube on Android.
Ambient mode works similarly to the LED backlights you may buy for the back of a TV. Like the backlights, the effect mirrors whatever is on your screen by illuminating a glow around the video window. The intended outcome is to give users a more immersive experience while indulging in their third hour of unboxing videos. While Google designed ambient mode with the purpose of improving user immersion, it can sometimes be distracting. Calling a feature inside of YouTube distracting is a bit of a paradox, but it truly is distracting in some cases.
Fortunately, for Android users who are not fans of ambient mode, the effects on your devices were almost nonexistent. But things have just changed. As pointed out by9to5Google, YouTube just tweaked ambient mode to be much more vibrant on Androids.
Before and after the recent update (Source:9to5Google)
Ambient mode on Android was most apparent on the compact, horizontal viewing screen; even then, it was not very pronounced. The slight glow below the screen, where the video title is, was barely visible before the new tweak. The ambient light is much more apparent in the new and “improved” version. Not only does the glow extend below the video title, but YouTube has also added the glow above the video player. Is the more lively Ambient mode now a significant feature on YouTube? The answer is still no, but the ambient light is undoubtedly more pronounced.
Recently, YouTube began experimenting with Ambient mode on its full screen video player. Unavoidably, the ambient glow is only apparent when the video is in a different format than your phone’s screen. So, if a video is not formatted to take up your entire screen, an ambient glow has been added to the black filler bars. Full screen portrait mode videos may have received the most significant change in this tweak. Once very subtle, the glow has now been expanded to cover almost the entire screen.
If you are a YouTube purist and don’t like changes to your video player, you are not alone, and luckily Ambient mode can be disabled. On your device, go to Settings on your watch page, then additional settings, and finally, toggling Ambient mode off will disable the feature. Ambient mode might take a little bit of time to get used to, but you might end up liking it, so give it some time before you turn it off.
