New Update
YouTube is rolling out YouTube Autoplay on Home, automatically playing videos on your home feed to provide a better previewing experience.
Coming to Android & iOS over the next few weeks... Autoplay on Home!
— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 3, 2018
Preview a video while you scroll or watch the whole thing on mute w/ captions.
To turn on/off or customize to play only on WiFi, go to Settings > Autoplay > Autoplay on Home.
More → https://t.co/DDh8ZnbJt6 pic.twitter.com/Bm2pDeMqOx
The new default would be rolled out on both Android and iOS. Users would have an option to turn it off or turn it on when connected to Wi-Fi. The preview would be played without sound.
The new feature being rolled out is to provide easier ways to preview videos and watch YouTube on-the-go. It was previously available on YouTube Premium.
YouTube is flooded with videos, so which one to watch is always a puzzled thought. Previews might reduce the contemplation as glimpses of the video might inform the viewer of its content and the viewer can take a well-informed decision.
Also Read: YouTube rolls out the Stories feature to more creators
These creators can also include captions in these previews. As captions open doors to a larger audience like who are hard of hearing or who don't know the language spoken in the video. There are three types of captions available for creators: automatic, creator-uploaded and crowd-sourced.
The thumbnail would be shown off for a bit, as creators spend a lot of time curating it and then auto-playing the video. The preview might raise the already high engagement on YouTube and boost views.