The latest change to YouTube is something that most of its users on Android or iOS will appreciate. It appears that in a server-side change, YouTube mobile has added a new toggle that allows users to share a currently playing video from a specific timestamp.
Notably, the process of sharing a video hasn"t changed, but a new toggle has been added to the share sheet. Previously, sharing a specific timestamp or links to timestamps on YouTube mobile wasn"t always a smooth experience.
It is unclear when the change started showing up for users, but it is now available. One of the other ways to share a timestamp on YouTube mobile was to use the "Clip" feature, available inside the "Remix" option. However, this was a tedious process as it required cropping a video and the output was a 60-second YouTube Short video.
The new timestamp-sharing feature (spotted by 9To5Google), is different and it lets you share a video timestamp. Neowin has confirmed that the feature is also available in India. This could come in handy in situations where you find something interesting in a long video or intricate in a video that you want to share with others. You can use the toggle to share the exact moment you saw the important information in the video.
Now, when you click the Share button, you will see a new toggle at the top-right of the share sheet. It lets you share a specific time or part of the currently playing video. This negates the need to view YouTube in a mobile browser, then add "&t=" and the specific time in "XmXXs" format.
On the desktop, you can manually enter a timecode or right-click on the video and choose the option "Copy video URL at the current time" option, which wasn"t available on YouTube mobile, until now. To change the timestamp, you need to scroll the seek bar on the video, then pause the video and use the "Share" menu to share the specific timestamp.