Photo Credit: Eyestetix Studio
YouTube Music has introduced a ‘recently played’ widget for the iOS 16 lock screen. It provides easy access to recently played songs, albums, playlists, and videos.
The new lock screen widget is available in two sizes–2×1 and 1×1. The 2×1 widget will show the name of the song, album, and playlist that is playing. In comparison, the 1×1 widget shows the song name only.
How to Add YouTube Music Lock Screen Widget
To add the new widgets to your lock screen, follow these quick steps.
- Tap and hold the Lock Screen to see the ‘Edit‘ menu.
- Select ‘Customize‘ to see your widgets.
- Tap the row where you want to add the widget.
- Select ‘YouTube Music‘ and choose the widget size.
- Tap ‘Done’ to save the changes.
Many of Google’s apps now support iOS 16’s lock screen widgets. Chrome, Google Drive, Gmail, Maps, Search, and News all received updates to support the new feature. These widgets function similarly to the already existing YouTube Music home screen widgets.
YouTube Music appears focused on rolling out more usability features for both iOS and Android. Earlier this year, the service debuted a new playlist and album redesign on Android tablets. That design is starting to roll out to Android phones. It features the album art and information much more prominently than the previous YouTube Music UI–and to be honest, it seems to mimic some of Spotify’s design.
Common user complaints about the YouTube Music experience still exist, though. For example, there’s currently no way to search inside of a playlist for a song, rather than the entire YouTube library. Crossfading is also non-existent on YouTube Music, unlike Spotify and Apple Music. YouTube Music users have been asking for these simple features since Google Play Music shut down and was rolled into the YouTube Music experience.