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YouTube for Android app update allows for manual streaming quality selection

Saqib Shah
June 5, 2014

Google has rolled out an update for the YouTube   for Android app that finally adds the long awaited feature of allowing users to manually choose the quality in which they want a video to playback.

In previous versions you could only toggle between HD and HQ, leaving many of us wondering the actual quality of the videos we were watching.

Fortunately, with the new update – version 5.7 –   now we can know for sure what videos have the highest quality on the app.

Consequently, you can now toggle between all the available playback quality options, which include 144p, 240p, 360p, and 720p. 1080p support appears to still be missing.

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The auto option will presumably choose the best stream based on your Internet connection at the time of playback. However, in the past, we often found ourselves changing this to the highest possible setting to find that it worked fine regardless.

To bring up the quality toggle, click the action button on the upper right corner of a video, then click the settings gear icon.

The update is rolling out slowly to Android devices, so it may take a little while to hit your device. Make sure you keep a close eye on the Play Store in the mean time.

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About the Author

Saqib Shah

Tech/gaming journalist for What Mobile magazine and website. Interests include film, digital media and foreign affairs.

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