If you’re watching YouTube videos on your smartphone, count yourself as the majority these days. Plenty of us have had to deal with a viewing experience that lags behind a more robust desktop one. But more features are sprouting up every so often and now there’s this one for those who could do away with starts-and-stops and even the data-conscious.

Some YouTube users are getting badges while their videos have paused that show how much of the video has been buffered and how large the video is. What’s more, as opposed to just buffering a few seconds ahead of your pause point, the app will buffer the entire video, right up until it lets you know that the video is “Ready to watch.”

YouTube can also buffer video while you shift apps, putting up a running notification and alerting you when it’s ready.

So far, the update has gone out to a random sample with disparate versions of the YouTube Android app ranging as far back as September.

Source: Android Police
Via: That Droid Guy