Top 10 voice commands to control the YouTube application – Be a YouTube Boss

August 24, 2016, by Santiago Comment

Although it is quicker to touch the screen to control the YouTube app, voice commands can sometimes be very useful. For example, they can be used to control the playback of a cooking tutorial while your hands are busy. In the same way if it is a video on how to repair the car and the hands are dirty. Even to skip ads without having to touch the phone.

The 9 commands supported by the YouTube app on Android basically allow you to control video playback. Pause, Play, Minimize and Maximize, send a video to TV, etc. They work with recognition OK Google from any screen (the same functionality that allows the trick of continuing to listen to YouTube with the app minimized or the screen turned off).

Considering that the OK Google recognition is activated on the mobile from any screen, you just have to give it play to any video in the app. Next you have to say OK Google («oquei gugol») and when the listening window appears, say one of the following commands. The listening window should automatically disappear and the command should be executed (pause the video, stop it, etc.).

1. «Pause«: Pause the video.
2. «Stop«: Stops the video and also stops loading it. If you want to do this manually Stop you have to go to another app and go back to YouTube. It has the same effect.
3. «Resume The play«: Play the video again.
4. «Minimize«: Moves the video window to the bottom of the screen.
5. «Maximize«: Enlarges the video window to fit the entire screen of the device.
6. «Exit” The “Close player«: Close the video, but keep the YouTube application open.
7. «Play on …” The “Connect to …«: In theory, you should start playback on a TV, Chromecast, or Console. Exactly, it should say something like “Play on TV,” “Connect to Chromecast,” or “Play on Console.” Unfortunately, if there are multiple devices of the same type, such as multiple Chromecasts, you cannot specify which one to start playback on.

This command should start the video playback on one of these devices, but in the tests it has only established a connection with them, so the video playback had to be done manually.

8. «Disconnect from …«: It is the opposite of the previous command. Disconnect your mobile from one of the three devices mentioned above. As an example, the command should look like this: “Disconect from Chromecast”.
9. «Skip ads«: If an ad is automatically played during the video, this command skips it.

Note that these commands are in English and must be pronounced with correct English phonetics. For Spanish speakers, it can be quite frustrating that the app doesn’t detect the command. That is why it is a good idea to use Google Translate to learn the correct pronunciation of these words / commands there. Unfortunately, for now there is no Spanish support for this functionality.

Activate OK Google recognition from any screen

The recognition of OK Google from any screen must be activated from the Google application:

• Go to the «Settings» of this app.
• Touch on the «Voice» option.
• In «Language», leave only the language «English (US)» selected.
• On the same Voice screen, tap on “OK Google Detection”.
• Finally, activate the option «From any screen» and follow the steps of the wizard to configure this feature.

Note: Acknowledgment of OK from any screen may not be available on all devices.