YouTube is launching a new private chat feature, and it's starting in Canada

YouTube is rolling out a new sharing feature, and Canadians — who YouTube says share 15% more videos than an average user — are getting it first. The new interface turns the YouTube sharing system into more of an integrated chat experience, keeping a private conversation around a video inside the YouTube app rather than elsewhere.

The new feature rolls out to the YouTube app in Canada starting today, and with the latest version when you go to share a video you'll be able to share it within the YouTube app to a group of friends. You can then chat back and forth about the video, continuing the conversation by posting other YouTube videos into the chat.

Yes in many ways this is yet Another Google Chat App.

The interface for sharing looks very similar to the new sharing system implemented in Google Photos, whereby you simply tap on people who you want to share with and the app does the rest. The first sharer sends off a message, and the conversation gets going. You can search for and include videos right from inside the chat, as well as "like" messages.

Yes in many ways this is yet Another Google Chat App, but thankfully it's just a new feature inside of an extremely established Google app rather than an altogether new platform. Keeping the conversation going inside YouTube rather than sending it off to another app makes sense on the surface, though it's hard to see a majority of people choosing to chat within YouTube rather than simply sending off the link to their favorite chat app of choice where a conversation is likely already in progress.

Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.