YouTube Premium subscribers now have a new experimental feature that they can opt-in to try out — ‘Comment Threading’. Earlier today, I opened the YouTube app and while scrolling through the ‘Home’ feed, I spotted the ‘Comment Threading’ experiment appear with an option to enable it. And when I went to Reddit, I noticed several other posts about the availability.
The feature is available until August 14 and promises to provide a more focused reading experience. It helps users easily understand conversations by organizing replies in a cleaner, more structured format. To use it, you simply click on the “X replies” button under a comment and view threaded replies in a dedicated “Replies” panel. The feature is only available on iOS and Android mobile apps for now.
Here’s a screenshot of the comments section with threaded replies turned on:
Based on user reactions across Reddit discussions I found, the response has been generally positive. Many users are comparing it to Reddit’s comment system, with one user noting “Looks like Reddit comments” and another saying “Which is a 1000000% upgrade. This should be the standard for all comments on the entire internet.” The enthusiasm is understandable given that Reddit has had threaded comments since 2005, while YouTube has been stuck with its confusing flat comment structure.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen YouTube experiment with comment threading. Back in February, we covered the initial limited testing of this feature when it was being rolled out to select users. The current YouTube comment system has long been criticized for making it difficult to follow conversations. When someone replies to a comment, it often gets buried among hundreds of other replies, making it nearly impossible to track the flow of discussion. This new threading system should solve that problem by creating clear visual hierarchies and dedicated spaces for reply chains.
YouTube’s experimental features program, available through YouTube Labs, regularly gives Premium users first access to new functionality. If the comment threading experiment proves successful during this testing period, it will likely become available to all YouTube users in the future. Given the positive early reception and the fact that this addresses a long-standing user complaint, there’s a good chance this feature will make it to the main platform.
That said, while this long-time issue is finally being addressed, YouTube users are now complaining about another recent change related to comments. Shorts viewers have noticed that each time they tap on the video to exit the comments, the video pauses instead of hiding the comments, which ruins the muscle memory they’ve built up for a long time.
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Dwayne Cubbins
1193 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
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