YouTube Music now lets you swipe to change tracks

YouTube Music on a Pixel 4 XL
YouTube Music on a Pixel 4 XL (Image credit: Joe Maring / Android Central)

Update, July 14 (01:30 PM ET): Swipe to change tracks is now widely available.

What you need to know

  • Some YouTube Music users are reporting the presence of a new swipe to switch track feature in the app.
  • Other music apps like Google Play Music supported the gesture in the past.
  • While not all users had it at first, Google appears to be rolling it out widely.

YouTube Music is trying out a new swipe to change tracks gesture. Recently spotted by people over at the eponymous YouTube Music subreddit, the feature works exactly as you'd imagine. You swipe your finger on the album art, and the next track comes into view.

Youtube Music Swipe To Change Tracks

Source: Reddit (Image credit: Source: Reddit)

Though Pixel 4 users have a variant of this where motion-sense was used switch tracks, this is a bit more conventional. Like all YouTube Music features, it seems to be a server-side activated feature, so no apk version will automatically trigger it for you. Google has yet to announce it as well, so it may still be a long wait.

Google has updated YouTube Music with a bunch of nice to have features as it completes the transition from Google Play Music. There's a nice new music player, a lyrics feature, support for a new Explore tab, and a quick tool to move all your songs from Google Play Music over. Most or all of these features should be available to most people at the moment, so expect this to join within the next couple of months.

Update, July 14 (01:30 pm ET) — Swipe to change tracks has arrived for more users.

Swipe to change tracks appears to have gone broadly available with users on the YouTube Music subreddit (and my own phone) reporting a surge in availability.

How to upload music to YouTube Music

Michael Allison