YouTube Shorts now play at double speed with one tap

YouTube Shorts now plays at double speed. Of the four changes YouTube began rolling out on June 25, this is the one viewers actually asked for—the company says speed ranked among the most requested Shorts features.It works the way long-form viewers already expect. Tap and hold on a Short, then drag down to lock 2x for the rest of the clip. The payoff shows up most on Shorts that creep toward the three-minute mark, where you can blow past the slow bits or jump to the part that matters. People have done this with podcasts and tutorials for years. Now the habit reaches short-form too.

What else is new on Shorts?

The rest are quieter tweaks. Clear Screen mode strips away every overlay for an unobstructed view, a trick TikTok pulled first.

Muting takes fewer taps now: pause the video, then hit the mute icon. The thorniest change is the missing dislike button, with YouTube nudging viewers toward "Not Interested" and "Don't recommend this channel," and turning the thumbs-up into a heart.Most of this already lives on Instagram Reels, so YouTube is playing catch-up more than setting the pace. Then again, Shorts pulled 200 billion daily views last year, so it can afford to follow. The rollout is gradual, which means 2x might not hit your feed for a while.