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YouTube Music Is Getting a Feature That Should Have Been There From the Beginning

Google is getting ready to release another highly awaited YouTube Music feature, this time improving the lyrics support.
Live lyrics in YouTube Music 6 photos
Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/reddit user jadavil
Google Play Music on AndroidGoogle Play Music on AndroidGoogle Play Music on AndroidGoogle Play Music on AndroidYouTube Music live lyrics
Diehard YouTube Music users certainly know that the music streaming service lacks essential functionality on this front. Lyrics are indeed available in the mobile app, but they are only displayed as a block of text when a new song starts playing.

The static lyrics aren’t necessarily everybody’s cup of tea, especially because following the progress of the song is pretty much impossible.

For comparison, Spotify has been offering live lyrics for many years. The Spotify apps display lyrics and highlight the text you should sign if you’re that much into karaoke.

Google is following in the footsteps of Spotify. The search giant has reportedly kicked off the rollout of live lyrics in YouTube Music. The feature is gradually becoming available on both iPhone and Android.

The most recent version of YouTube Music on Android is 5.51.50, but the availability of live lyrics has nothing to do with the installed updates. Google is using a phased rollout model, which means users aren’t getting the new feature when installing a specific version.

Instead, the company enables live lyrics in waves, and it’s all controlled with a server-side switch. As such, users can’t do anything to activate the feature but wait for Google to do it on their devices. The company hasn’t released any official announcement on this, so for now, the availability of live lyrics continues to be very limited.

On Android Auto, YouTube Music is the successor to Google Play Music. The transition to YouTube Music wasn’t at all smooth, especially because of the missing functionality. YouTube Music didn’t originally come with a free tier, blocking users from listening to music they purchased on Google Play Music. As such, many users ended up jumping ship, switching to the likes of Spotify for more advanced car integration.

The phased rollout model is likely to cause more frustration in the YouTube Music user base. This approach gives Google more time to monitor feedback and determine the reliability of a new feature. The same strategy is also being used for Coolwalk, the Android Auto redesign that was announced back in January.

Google enables the new experience in stages only for a very limited number of users. The company then monitors reliability data and determines whether the availability of an update should be improved or not. Eventually, the rollout gains more pace up to the point when the general availability is reached. In the case of Coolwalk, the search giant plans to bring the new interface to all Android Auto users by the end of this year. The rollout is still underway at the time of writing.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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