Spotify and Apple Music are behemoths in the music streaming space, but YouTube Music is not far behind. Even though some might consider it to be just another YouTube by-product, YouTube's music streaming platform offers many different features that will change how you listen to music on your phone or computer.
Whether you're thinking about making the switch or you're already a premium user, here are some YouTube Music features you need to try.
1. YouTube Music Offers Google Cast Support
Bluetooth can get a bit annoying if you regularly switch between devices. Fortunately, YouTube Music makes this process a lot easier thanks to its Google Cast support. You can cast any song you’re listening to from your phone to any device that also supports the feature.
This works for speakers, headphones, TVs, and even smart home hubs. For instance, if you Choose the Google Nest Mini, you can use it to play your favorite music by tapping the Cast icon next to the track on YouTube Music. Then, choose a device to cast to and enjoy.
2. Searching by Lyrics on YouTube Music
Sometimes you vaguely remember a song by its lyrics or melody but not by its exact title. It can get a bit annoying, especially if you’ve been trying to find the song for a while. With YouTube Music, you don’t have to worry about that anymore because as long as you know a few lyrics, the app will find that song for you.
To search for a song by lyrics, you have to type whatever lyrics you remember in the search bar, and the app will search for tracks that feature those lyrics. Also, you can Find the Lyrics of Almost any Song on YouTube Music, which is a nice plus.
3. Watch Your Favorite Music Videos on YouTube Music
Since YouTube Music shares much of its design and functionality with the regular YouTube app, it also features video playback. So, you can just listen to the music as you normally would, or you can also watch the music video. This is a feature exclusive to YouTube Music, as it’s not available on most streaming services. Moreover, you can use this feature even if you're a free user.
You can easily choose between the Song and Video modes, which are located at the top of your screen. As long as a music video exists for the song, YouTube Music will find it and play it for you. But, if you're worried about wasting your data, you can quickly Disable Music Videos on YouTube Music.
4. Create Personalized Radio Stations
The personalized radio feature is very much like Spotify's personalized Mixes—the only difference being that YouTube Music does a much better job at it. This is mainly because YouTube Music uses Google’s algorithm, which is more accurate than Spotify’s.
The app also has access to your YouTube history, so as soon as you launch and log in to your account, you’ll get recommendations based on your subscriptions, as well as your watch and search history.
To listen to your personalized radio, play a song on YouTube Music you like, tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen, and select Start radio.
5. Shared Your Favorite YouTube Music Playlists
If you have an amazing playlist on YouTube Music that you want to share with your friends, you quickly send them your playlist's link. What's great about sharing your playlist on YouTube Music is that whenever you add or remove a song, the playlist gets updated in real-time.
To share a playlist with your friends, go to Library, select the playlist you want to share, and tap the Share icon.
If you want your friends to be able to add songs to your playlist, select the Edit icon, change the privacy to Unlisted, tap on Collaborate, press the Toggle button, and share the link with your friends.
6. Skip Ads in the Free Version
Ads on YouTube are annoying enough, but getting an ad when trying to listen to music is even more frustrating. The free versions of most of the Best Music Streaming Services feature unskippable ads. And while the free version of YouTube Music has ads, most of them are skippable.
The key word here is “most.” Just like the YouTube app, some ads are unskippable. Apart from that, you can also skip tracks and scrub through songs.
7. Use Your Favorite Song as an Alarm
Waking up to the same ringtone every day eventually becomes boring. With YouTube Music, you can spice up your mornings by setting your favorite songs as your alarm tone. However, you need to download Google's Clock app to use this feature.
From the Clock app, select Alarm, and set the alarm to the desired time. Press the Down arrow, tap the Ringtone icon, choose YouTube Music, and select your favorite song as the ringtone. The next time your alarm rings, you’ll hear the selected song instead of the default Android alarm tone. Unfortunately, this feature does not work on iPhones.
Download: Google Clock for Android (Free)
8. Pause Your Watch and Search History
Many people refrain from sharing their music streaming apps with their family and friends, fearing they might mess up the recommendations. Well, with YouTube Music, you don’t have to worry about that anymore because it offers a simple way around it.
Open the YouTube Music app, and press the Profile icon in the top right side of your screen. Then, tap Settings, select Privacy and Location, and turn on Pause search history and watch history. As long as these two options are turned on, your search and watch history will be anonymous, and your recommendations won't get messed up.
9. Upload Your Own Music Library to YouTube Music
If you already have a personalized playlist on your PC, you don’t have to leave it behind. With YouTube Music, you can easily upload all your music from your PC through the YouTube Music web browser. This way, you can access all your songs on any device with YouTube Music by logging in with your account.
Just go to YouTube Music website on your PC, and log in to your account if you need to. Click the Profile icon, and select Upload music. Choose the songs you want to transfer, and press Open. All the songs will be added to your library. To listen on your phone, just relaunch the app to refresh the library.
10. Block Explicit Content
Almost all music streaming services contain content that isn’t suitable for kids. But while others do the bare minimum to prevent this, YouTube Music Lets You Hide Mature Videos with Restricted Mode.
Unleash the Full Potential of YouTube Music
Despite all the competition in the music streaming space, YouTube Music manages to keep up in terms of features and music discovery. It’s a suitable alternative, and it is a better value for those who are already subscribed to YouTube Premium.
However, the app still needs to make some improvements. For example, the UI is a bit generic, the audio quality could be better, and there’s a severe lack of podcasts compared to Spotify or Apple Music.
