YouTube Introduces Experimental ‘Jump Ahead’ Feature for Select Users

YouTube is constantly striving to improve the user experience and often releases new features to improve the viewing experience. And again, it has released a new feature to a small set of users. This latest experiment is called “skip ahead,” which makes it easier for users to jump to specific parts of a YouTube video.

YouTube users using the Android or iOS app are familiar with the double-tap skip feature, where tapping twice in a row skips forward 10 seconds in a video. YouTube’s new experimental skip ahead feature is similar to the 10-second skip feature, except that it analyzes user data and uses machine learning to automatically select points of interest in a clip.

Basically, if you double-tap to skip a video, users will see a prompt to “skip forward” in the YouTube video. By tapping on it, YouTube can suggest the part of the video that many people are attracted to and bring users to the next point of interest in the video.

For example, you are watching a collection of satisfying video clips, and the most satisfying clip is the one that was shown in the thumbnail. So YouTube will automatically suggest that point in the video when you skip ahead.

“The way it works is that if a viewer double-taps to go forward in a valid segment, we’ll show a Skip Forward button that takes them to the next point in the video we think they’re going to. This feature is also available to creators when they’re watching their own videos,” YouTube’s creator-focused channel Creator Insider explained.

This feature is only available to YouTube Premium users as it is an experimental feature. So if you have a Premium membership, you can try these features on both the mobile app and desktop.

First, you can visit the official YouTube trial site on your desktop. Users using the mobile application must launch the application. Then click on your profile picture, go to settings and scroll down to the Try Experimental Features section. You will see an option to activate this and other experimental features. It is important to note that these experimental features are only available for a limited time.

According to 9to5Google, YouTube announced that this is a small experiment that is currently available in the US.