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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.