Google doesn’t require you to buy a subscription to enjoy most of the YouTube features, at least for now. Whether you’re a free user or a premium subscriber, there are also features that you should avoid to get the best YouTube experience, though what works and what doesn’t depends on who you ask.
However, some features are widely disliked, and Google’s new YouTube feature could turn out to be one of those. As spotted by Android Authority, the recently added functionality will leave most of your phone screen blank while watching YouTube Shorts.
YouTube starts rolling out a new Rotate Shorts feature
YouTube Shorts, like other short video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, are generally meant to be watched in portrait orientation. This format is also more accessible than the landscape, because we hold our phones upright by default. However, YouTube’s new feature challenges this existing state with a capability that will allow users to rotate Shorts.
Folks over at Android Authority spotted the feature on their Pixel 9 Pro XL on YouTube’s Accessibility page. As useless as it might sound, you’ll be able to turn it off from the Accessibility settings. All you’ll have to do is disable the Rotate Shorts toggle. When enabled, it won’t play Shorts in landscape mode on its own. You’ll have to rotate your phone to landscape with auto-rotation turned on.
We haven’t been able to test this, but the results are as bad as you could imagine. Watching Shorts in landscape mode leaves a large blank space on the sides of the phone, making the video less immersive. All those control options in landscape mode appear on the right side, as is the case in portrait viewing.
The ability to rotate Shorts appears to be rolling out via a server-side update in a phased manner, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see it on your handset. If you’re not a fan of watching this format of videos in landscape orientation, you don’t have to bother because YouTube won’t turn this on by default. The Shorts will rotate to landscape only if you turn the toggle on from the YouTube Settings.
