r/youtube

Casting from the YouTube app to my TV via Chromecast used to be simple and great. Open the app, tap Cast, queue up videos, let other people in the room add stuff. It just worked.

Now it’s an Inception-level nightmare. You’re navigating up and down through layers of madness, finally regaining consciousness shaking and covered in sweat, only to discover the mission failed completely and you’re watching a video about the latest diaper technology instead of the survival-in-the-wilderness queue you thought you were building.

And voice control? Before Gemini I could say “Hey Google, rewind 30 seconds” or “fast forward a minute.” Now the only commands it recognizes are pause and play. We’re going backwards.

How did this happen? Did someone forget that these “improvements” are shipping to the live app?

Come on, YouTube. You can do much better.

I’ve been watching YouTube since 2006 and if I watch something on my phone through the app literally every video is peppered with ads. It was the case that you watched ads and then the video played but now you even have multiple ads inside the video. When I do Picture in Picture on my phone and I swipe the video to the side it stops playing. I understand they have to pay bills somehow but it didn’t use to be like this.

Can’t imagine subscribing $20 a month to use the free site I’ve been on for 20 years