Top 10 YouTube Features that Were Removed
YouTube had cool features that were awesome, but then they were taken off the site, for whoever knows why. Get ready for a trip down memory lane.Yep, it's gone (or will be in September, depending on when you found this list). If you want to make simple compilation videos now, you have to take the long way. Apparently, no one used the editor.
Google, you're making a big mistake. A lot of people used the video editor.
Those boxes that appeared on screen, which you could click on or were just for fun little messages, have now been replaced with the "End Screen" feature (which will likely disappear in 2025).
Luckily, they were removed from YouTube, and I won't have to see them ever again. Also, they are no longer on YouTube, forever, due to the difficulty of viewing a video with them.
To add, existing annotations will remain on videos but can't be edited at all.
As a general rule, star ratings are useless. They result in a bunch of ones and fives and relatively little in between. Video ratings in general, whether they are star ratings or the current like/dislike system, are not good indicators of the quality of a video, especially if the video maker covers a controversial topic, such as feminism or free trade.
I'm quite happy these were replaced with the like/dislike system. Ratings were almost always 1 or 5 stars, which rendered the other options in between practically useless.
This sounds like a great idea, but in some ways, it would suck. What if a troll channel put flashing gifs or layered images to slow down or crash your computer? Also, it would be harder to navigate. One channel might put their Subscribe button at the very bottom, while another would put it at the very top.
I think that YouTube should add another form of customizability, but in a way that prevents trolls and still keeps a universal design.
This was such a cool feature where you could change the theme on your YouTube channel. I don't know what YouTube was thinking when they got rid of it.
This was the best and only way to organize and optimize the content you were most interested in at the moment. Now everything is piled together in an easy-to-miss mess.
This was a feature that allowed you to sort your subscriptions. Despite its usefulness, it was removed for some reason.
Loved it. It helped me have everything I wanted, right where I wanted it.
This was a neat way to communicate with other users, but it was removed from the site. There are different ways to engage with viewers now, but they're just not like Video Responses.
You know how if you have no internet you can play that T-Rex game while you wait for a connection? Well, this was basically that, but with video loading. I guess because videos load faster now, this was removed.
I remember doing that! I think it should still be on the site while the video is loading because sometimes it feels like it takes 83483883383838 millennia.
I remember hearing about this, but when I tried it, it didn't work.
I hate that they removed this. Now I can't comment on Spongebob videos if I wanted to.
They had some problems with pedophiles and other creepy stuff. I think YouTube made the right call.
Subscriber abbreviations suck. Why can't they just show the actual number of subscribers someone has, like they used to?
The Newcomers
This one is the most important feature YouTube removed. They are terrified of showing real polling numbers (defiling the political news).
This was a stupid feature to get rid of. The miniplayer should be enabled for all YouTube videos like it was in 2019 and prior. They removed it under the excuse of the COPPA update that was announced in late 2019 and officially ruined YouTube on January 6th, 2020.
I remember the good old days when all videos that enabled comments had a comment section, but then it was ruined by some idiots. People like them are the reason we can't have nice things.
I hate that they removed comments and disabled them on family videos and videos with minors. It's super annoying, and it just doesn't feel the same.
Oh yes, the sidebar. It used to show information about the user who uploaded the video you were watching. Now, you have to scroll down to see that.
Even though the "About" page is a neat replacement, I liked the sidebar more.
Featured content, videos, or playlists that appeared at the bottom of the screen on videos have been removed because users clicked them away and were more likely to click end screens and cards.
These could be useful, but I don't think many people used them.
I remember using this to message some YouTubers. It was handy.
These were basically achievements within the site that would be shown in the video description. They were taken off long ago. They were cool. I don't know why they were removed.
This was a cool way to share videos among friends. I guess it was overshadowed by texting links on your phone. Or Google+. What?!
Now, if I want to see a favorite video that I liked a year ago, I have to scroll through a lot of junk.
This was a way to add your friends into a specific category. It was likely deemed useless thanks to subscription collections, so they removed it.
This was such a good way to share videos with friends.
You used to be able to send private comments to anyone. For example, if you wanted to send a private comment to the uploader to ask something privately, you could do it. It's gone now, and everyone can see your comments. I used to use this back in 2014 when I wanted to send a private comment.
It increasingly gets replaced with the Community Tab instead of co-existing.