YouTube experimenting with new ‘Play Something’ button: Here’s what it does

YouTube is undoubtedly one of the best video streaming platforms, but sometimes you may struggle to find the right video. To put an end to endless scrolling woes, YouTube is reportedly testing a new “Play something” floating action button.

According to a recent report by 9to5Google, the new “Play something” button appears with a black background and white text just above the bottom bar. It goes on to say that tapping on the button starts a random video in the Shorts player, but as it turns out, the button can also play regular content in portrait mode with the like, dislike, comment and share button appearing on the right side of the screen along with a timeline scrubber at the bottom of the player.

Here’s how the new floating action button looks like. (Image Source: 9to5Google)

However, the Play something button disappears whenever the miniplayer is active. This isn’t the first time YouTube has experimented with a ‘Play something feature’. In 2023, a Reddit user spotted a banner with the text “Can’t decide what to watch?” with the ‘Play something button’ appearing on the bottom.

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While it is still unclear if and when the new ‘Play something’ button will be rolled out to all users, it looks like Google is still trying to decide if they should go ahead with it.

Earlier this year in October, YouTube announced that it is rolling out a bunch of new improvements and features which included the ability to set thumbnails for playlists, set sleep timers and a redesigned mini-player.