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Latest YouTube app update hints at a dark theme, Incognito mode, and more
- A recent YouTube app teardown revealed that the option to enable a dark theme could arrive in a future update.
- Another feature that could make its way to the app is Incognito mode.
- Because these features were found in code, there is no guarantee they will see the light of day.
YouTube has been at the center of a few controversies in recent times, but that has not stopped the Google-owned video service from continuing work on its Android app. That work comes to us as version 13.0, and in it lies some features we could see in future versions.
According to 9to5Google‘s excellent teardown, the YouTube app includes code for a dark theme. This would make sense, seeing how the YouTube redesign on the web lets you toggle between a light or dark theme, while YouTube Music has opted for a darker aesthetic since its launch.
Another big feature that could make its way to the YouTube app is Incognito mode. The app already lets you pause watch and search history, but that requires enabling both of them in settings. With Incognito mode, not only does both options get toggled simultaneously, but the app might also explicitly tell you when it is on, since an Incognito mode icon was discovered alongside the code.
Other nifty features that might eventually pop up are swiping to skip ads, useful if you do not have YouTube Red and are tired of tapping the bottom right after the five seconds are up, and a toggle within settings that lets you auto-play the next video. That latter feature is already within the current version, though it might see a bit of reorganization.
Just because these features were found in the YouTube app’s code does not guarantee they will make it to the app. That being said, these look to be prime candidates to be included in future versions, so we will keep an eye out as we learn more.