YouTube adds pinch to zoom feature for smartphones with 18:9 display

Smartphones with bigger and wider display featuring 18:9 aspect ratio are on the rise, thanks to use of bezel-less design in most of the handsets including mid-rangers.

They offer immersive media viewing experience, but watching YouTube has not been pleasing as most of the videos are optimized for the 16:9 aspect ratio. This means when you watch YouTube on a 18:9 display in full screen mode, black bars will appear on each side of the display.

Having said that, YouTube has updated its Android and iOS app (v.12.44) to add 18:9 display support with a new 'pinch-to-zoom' gesture function. This feature will let you expand the video to fit into the entire display.

So now users with devices like LG G6, LG V30, Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy Note8, Pixel 2XL, Micromax Canvas Infinity, Xiaomi Mi MIX 2, vivo V7+, OnePlus 5T and iPhone X can just pinch the YouTube video with two fingers, and it will zoom out to fit the entire display, hence, eliminating the black bars.

The new feature is being rolled out to YouTube app for Android devices through the Google Play Store and for the iPhone X through App Store.