YouTube now lets you use your phone as a second screen

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You can now use your mobile device as a second screen when watching YouTube on TV. The feature will be perfect for people wanting to interact with the video without having to back out of the actual video on the screen.

Once connected, the mobile device gets used for interactive services. That’s things like commenting and liking videos, shopping, or any of the other associated actions you normally can do on YouTube.

All you need to use it is to sign into the same YouTube account on both devices. Open YouTube on your mobile device while a video is playing on your TV and tap the Connect button. You can see how it works below.

READ MORE: WatchTube is an app that lets you watch YouTube on an Apple Watch

YouTube says it made this change after looking at how people watched things on their TVs. Did you know over 80 percent of people surveyed say they use a second device while watching TV shows?

Over 70 percent of those use the second device to look up things related to what they’re watching.

In the case of videos, they also found that people were opening the same video on their mobile devices. That’s to engage with the video being watched on the big screen, as it’s easier than using the TV remote.

YouTube has been on a feature-adding spree lately, adding a “most replayed” graph to the progress bar, and the ability to use YouTube Music on Wear OS watches.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.