How to Get Volume and Brightness Gesture Controls in the YouTube Android App

Sunday, 29 May 2016

Almost all Video Players on Android provide gesture controls to set volume and brightness as the video plays. It easy and handy to have this feature. Now, what if you get this feature in the official YouTube Android app? Maybe you’re too lazy to stretch out your fingers to the volume buttons or pull down the notification bar to increase brightness. Whatever the case may be, if you’re interested in getting this feature then read on.

youtube-gesture-control — Controlling YouTube with gestures on Android | Bloomua / Shutterstock

There are many apps on Play Store that can give you gesture controls to perform different actions. But, that will take its affect system-wide. You need to have an application that can track a specific activity (as in our case a video playing in the YouTube app) and turn on the gesture control for that specific activity. That way the action performed will only affect the specific activity in the app and not system-wide. So, here I’d like to share with you an app that will do exactly that.

Turning back the time wheel : In the past, we had share with you a gesture-based app that you’ll ever need, a Gesture Launcher to perform system tasks and a guide on setting swipe gesture for external links on Android. So, do check them out.

Volume and Brightness Gesture Controls in YouTube for Android

Step-1: Download and Install this app.
Step-2: Open the app and you’ll be asked to turn on the Accessibility Settings for the app.

youtube-gesture-control-1

Step-3: Turn on Accessibility for the app. This will enable the app to track when the YouTube video is playing on your Android phone.
youtube-gesture-control-2

Step-4: You’re now all set to use the gesture control in the YouTube app. Play a video on YouTube. Swiping up/down on the left will control the brightness and on the right will control the volume.
youtube-gesture-control-4

The Annoying Message

As you can see in the above screenshot, you get a full sized banner asking you to buy the full version. Yes, this comes up every time change the brightness and volume. It stays for around 2 seconds. But, it’s still annoying. The full version costs $2. If you really want to have this feature in YouTube app then go for it.

Settings

In the settings of the app, you can set the velocity of the swipe and enable the option to show brightness and volume levels in percentage.
youtube-gesture-control-5

Xposed Framework User? Here are 2 Xposed Modules to enhance your YouTube Experience on Android.

Any Other Way?

The free version of the app will surely annoy you. But, the full version is worth the buy (it also contains settings for tap anywhere to pause/start and auto brightness). However, if you have any other way to do this in the YouTube app then do mention it down in the comments and help other readers.