What’s New in Play

Big improvements to performance and responsiveness, making everything feel smoother and faster.
Rebuilt the menu bar to properly enable or disable buttons based on selected items, and added more app actions for easier access.
Search now finds videos across the whole app, not just in the selected list—and it’s blazing fast!
Search now also lets you choose which video attributes to match.

Fixed an issue preventing interactive transcripts from loading on certain videos.PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed an issue where the delete key would not delete the selected video.

You can now setup Channels Inbox filters with multiple keywords, separated by commas (e.g., tutorial, review).PLAY PREMIUM
Redesigned the video details inspector with separate panes for each section: attributes, chapters, transcript, recommendations, and notes.

Resolved an issue where the sidebar and list view would reset their width.

Ability to set your favorite channels to automatically save new videos for later when refreshing Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Customize Tags, Smart Search, and folders with colors and icons of your choice.
New “Scheduled for Date” attribute indicating when upcoming video broadcasts are scheduled to begin.
Smart Search now supports filtering by Date Watched.
Smart Search now supports filtering by Date Scheduled.
Smart Search now supports filtering videos with no ratings.
Play now remembers expanded Tag and Smart Search folders in the sidebar.PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed an issue where the sidebar wouldn’t restore its previously set width.

Channels Inbox now supports Vimeo creators, letting you receive new videos from both YouTube and Vimeo in a unified feed.PLAY PREMIUM
New Get Video Transcript action to retrieve the transcript of any YouTube video for your automated workflows in Shortcuts.PLAY PREMIUM
Watch in a New Window now supports the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Option-Left arrow Go to Previous Chapter
- Option-Right arrow Go to Next Chapter
- Left arrow Go backward 10 seconds
- Right arrow Go forward 10 seconds
- Space bar Play/Pause
Performance improvement when selecting a Tag folder.
Fixed an issue where videos from playlists remained in Channels Inbox after saving for later.PLAY PREMIUM

Introducing Transcripts: Play now provides interactive transcripts, letting us navigate the video by tapping any phrase. Transcripts are also searchable, making it easy to find and jump to specific parts of the video.PLAY PREMIUM
The in-app player can now automatically start playback in full screen. Configure in Settings → Player → In-App Player Window Size.
The playback position is now automatically saved when closing the in-app player window with the Esc key.
Fixed an issue where Smart Search in some cases could filter items incorrectly based on tags.
Fixed an issue where the “Play All New on YouTube” button would not mark videos as watched when invoked from the File menu.

Channels Inbox now updates 2x to 4x faster.PLAY PREMIUM
Performance improvements when selecting a Tag or Smart Search folder.
Stability improvements.

Fixed an issue where a small number of specific videos could be incorrectly categorized as YouTube Shorts. They are now correctly classified and will appear in your Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM

Channels Inbox can now hide all shorts, including those without #shorts in the title. Go to Settings → Channels Inbox to configure.PLAY PREMIUM
Improved performance when refreshing the Channels Inbox, especially for users following many channels.PLAY PREMIUM
You can now select a custom color for Tags using the system color picker.
Added the ability to choose if Play should remember your playback position automatically. Go to Settings → Player to configure.
Added a context menu button to copy the video URL in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed an issue preventing sign-in with a YouTube account.
Fixed an issue preventing Play from following a channel shared through the Share Sheet from other apps.

Enhanced Channels Inbox stability.PLAY PREMIUM
Polished app text in several areas for greater clarity.
Users who previously enabled the Delete Watched parameter now can view and adjust it in Settings → Player.
Fixed an issue where selecting a folder or channel in the Channels Inbox sidebar did not display its videos.PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed support for Apple TV content.

You can now set a default size for the in-app player window. To configure, go to Settings → Player.
The Space bar key can now be used to watch the selected video in a new window.

Redesigned Tag menus throughout the app to support folders.
Restored the Command-A keyboard shortcut to select all items according to the context.

Ability to customise the “Show Video” shortcut action to either open the item in its source app or view it in Play.
New shortcut action to add or edit notes for a video.
Pinned items will no longer appear in both the Pinned section and the corresponding Tags or Smart Searches section in the Sidebar.
The About window now features a better-suited UI for the platform.

Support for playback speeds faster than 2x. To configure, go to Settings → Player.
Better chapter extraction from video descriptions with some specific formats.PLAY PREMIUM
New button for moving a channel to a folder from within the context menu.PLAY PREMIUM
Ability to unfollow a channel without exiting the search results in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Editing an Auto-Tagging condition and changing the 'When' attribute no longer unnecessarily clears the 'Contains' field.
Fixed an issue that caused videos marked as watched through Shortcuts to not update the Date Watched attribute correctly.

Channels InboxPLAY PREMIUM

When importing from Google Takeout, you now have the option to overwrite existing channels. This will remove any channels you follow in Play that are not included in your Google Takeout archive.
Added Command-Return as a new keyboard shortcut to watch Channels Inbox videos on YouTube.
Fixed an issue where channels were not being added to the selected folder when following via search.

Video Details

Notes can now be added or edited inline in the video details pane, making it easier to take notes while watching.
New option to customize the double-click action on videos. To configure, go to Settings → Video List.
Added the ability to edit video description.

Auto-Tagging and Smart Search

Saving an Auto-Tagging will now automatically apply it to existing videos.
You can now create a Smart Search to filter videos without tags, just like on iOS.

General

Play now remembers the customized sidebar and video list sizes between launches.

Fix Channels Inbox not showing the list of videos until “All” was clicked.PLAY PREMIUM
Fix a bug that could cause some recommended videos to miss metadata during addition.

Chapters and Timestamps: Play will detect and extract chapters listed in the video description, enabling you to easily navigate to specific sections.PLAY PREMIUM
Recommended By: Likewise, videos suggested by the creator in the description are now shown in a dedicated section, making it easier to add them to your queue.PLAY PREMIUM

Fixed an issue that could crash the app while scrolling through the video list on macOS Sequoia.

Play’s content is now searchable in Spotlight.
The video description can now be translated to your preferred language.

In Progress: A new playlist for videos you’ve started but haven’t finished.
Playback Speed: You can now change the playback speed for all videos in Settings → Player.
Fixed an issue where videos from channels with similar names were displayed under both channels in the “New by Creator” section.

Added Space bar as a keyboard shortcut for previewing the selected video in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
The video description is now directly below the artwork and title for better visibility.
Notes now supports keyboard shortcuts for common formatting options.
Added a quick view option for notes when right-clicking a video.
Improved iconography to clarify certain actions.
Fixed the issue of text being cut off in the General tab of Settings.

Added an option to always show full notes in video details. Configure in Settings → Video Details.
Fixed an issue that could group videos from channels with similar names in the New by Channel section.

Pinned Tags and Smart Searches now sync across platforms, and there’s no limit to the number of items you can pin.
The built-in player in the video details pane now remains visible even while scrolling to view the video’s metadata.
You can now follow a channel by searching its name, without needing to copy and paste the URL (though that’s still an option if you want to follow a specific channel directly).PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed an issue that could cause state restoration to not load the previously selected Smart Searches on launch.

The notes text editor now features live markdown syntax highlighting and improved controls.
Search now offers title, channel, notes, description, and tag as categories for more granular control.
New button in the File menu to quickly save videos from the clipboard.
New button to follow a channel right from the video details panel.

You can now organize your Channels Inbox subscriptions into folders.PLAY PREMIUM
Channels Inbox now supports per-channel settings to filter new videos according to their title and description.PLAY PREMIUM
Added the ability to edit the channel name in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Performance improvements when refreshing Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
New button to quickly filter videos by that creator when control-clicking a video.

Over 2x faster performance when finding new videos from channels you follow in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Added a new button when right-clicking a video to redownload metadata.
Fixed an issue where the URL sent through the play://add?url= URL Scheme was replaced by the URL in the clipboard.

Fixed an issue where the app could crash when launched by users with numerous tags and tag folders.
Fixed an issue where double-clicking a video would unexpectedly open a window displaying video metadata.

Support undo (⌘ Z) and redo (⇧ ⌘ Z) functions for video operations.
Added an option to remove the Add to Play button from the menu bar.
Selecting File → Play Selected on YouTube now marks the selected items as watched according to the Mark as Watched preference.
Included buttons to help with Markdown formatting while editing a note.
Resolved an issue where the New by Creator section would lost the selected item when changing the count of videos to watch.
You can now customize the sorting order of your Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Added the Command-R keyboard shortcut to refresh Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Added a dedicated section for Slow Feeds in Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Added the ability to share the video directly from Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Tag and Smart Search folders can now be edited and deleted from the sidebar.PLAY PREMIUM
Tag folders now display the item count.PLAY PREMIUM
The video list now indicates which videos have a star rating or notes.
Configure whether to show or hide Date Added, Date Released, and Duration in the list view by going to Preferences -> Video List.
The Set Start At Position shortcut action is now also available on macOS.
The Find Video shortcut action now supports filtering by URL.

The list of supported streaming services has been significantly expanded. If Play couldn't fetch metadata for a video you tried to add before, there's a good chance it can now handle it.
Play now also supports a wide range of content types, including articles, posts, and so on. This opens up various possibilities, such as saving links to movie reviews, Instagram Reels, social network posts with an embedded video, and so on.

New menu bar button for quickly adding videos when the app is not active.
The video player now dynamically expands to fit the available space, according to the window size.
Video description and notes are now embedded in the video details panel for a more streamlined experience.
Settings now embraces a UI design more aligned with the platform.
New Video Details section in Settings that allows customizing information displayed within the video details panel.
Channels Inbox now maintains its on-screen position when closed and reopened.PLAY PREMIUM
Channels Inbox now selects the next item upon adding or deleting the current selection, resulting in a better keyboard navigation experience.PLAY PREMIUM
Added Shift-Command-0 as a keyboard shortcut to open Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
New context menu action available in Channels Inbox to Delete Videos Above.PLAY PREMIUM
Fixed an issue where clicking the Channels button multiple times would lead to multiple instances of the window.PLAY PREMIUM

Improved the UI for managing Tag and Smart Search folders.
Fixed an issue that could cause the Watched list to not be sorted in reverse chronological order.

Videos will now automatically play when opened in a new window.
Shared videos now include the Start At attribute in the URL.
Fixed an issue when trying to add items from Disney+.
Fixed an issue that prevented Shortcuts who receive parameters from the Share Sheet from executing after sharing a video.
Added a shortcut action to recover recently removed videos from your Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM

Import your YouTube channels using Google Takeout.PLAY PREMIUM
Adjust when the Channels Inbox feed updates: On Start or Manually. Configure in Preferences → Channels → Sync.PLAY PREMIUM
Channels Inbox now follows the Show Full Title preference configured in Preferences → UI.PLAY PREMIUM
You can now view the number of videos on each Smart Search.
Watch a random new item when right-clicking a Tag or Smart Search.
Added the ability to do not bring browser windows to the foreground when watching. Configure in Preferences → UI → Open Videos in Background.
Improved interaction with the Start At UI to increase performance and enable direct input of the specific timeframe.
You can now use the Command-N keyboard shortcut to dismiss the confirmation dialog shown after adding a video with the Add to Play share extension.

Follow YouTube playlists: you can now follow a specific playlist to get new videos as they are published.PLAY PREMIUM
Pin up to two Tags or Smart Searches at the top of the sidebar for quick access.
Smart Search now supports filtering by video duration, description, and URL.
Smart Search now supports filtering videos that do not include a specific tag.
Smart Search now supports customizing the criteria between Contains and Doesn’t Contains when filtering by video title, channel, description, URL, or notes.
Drag & Drop improvements: Drag a tag into a video to assign; Drag a tag into a folder to move it.
New Organize menu now aggregates access to Tags, Auto-Tagging and Smart Search.
The in-app player window now maintains the correct aspect ratio when resizing.
Dragging a video to a tag no longer changes its added time and status.

Tags now show their associated folder names across the app.PLAY PREMIUM
Play should now be able to recognize all installed browsers and allow you to select your preferred one. Configure your preferred browser in Preferences → Browser.
You can now adjust the sorting order directly from the toolbar.

Added the ability to watch new videos from your channels inline, without having to first save them for later.PLAY PREMIUM
The Get Videos shortcut action now supports filtering by multiple tags.
You can now view the complete video title in the list of videos saved for later. Configure in Preferences → UI.
Added a new Play Selected on YouTube menu item to play all selected videos at once.
Fixed a crash when trying to set the Start At attribute on videos that have a 0:00 length.

Interactive widget for tracking newly released videos from channels you follow.PLAY PREMIUM
Added the ability to keep the video player window always on top. Configure in Preferences → UI.
Added support for the play://channels URL scheme to quickly open the Channels Inbox.PLAY PREMIUM
Added Date Watched as a possible attribute for filtering and sorting videos in the Find Video shortcut action.
Fix: When the Mark as Watched parameter is enabled, selecting Play All New on YouTube will now accurately play the selected tag and smart search.
Fix: The Channels Inbox status bar now converts the elapsed time into hours if it has been more than 60 minutes since the last update.

Follow channels from your existing videos in Channels → control-click (+) → Add Existing Channels...PLAY PREMIUM
You can now merge two different Tags. Control-click a tag in Preferences → Tags and choose Merge...PLAY PREMIUM
Use the ⌘P keyboard shortcut to watch the selected video on a new window.
Support for the Orion and Friendly Streaming browsers.
Configure a custom Piped/Invidious instance to watch videos.
New action to delete YouTube channels from the Shortcuts app.PLAY PREMIUM
Keep up with all the latest updates with the new What’s New in Play document, available in Help → What’s New.
Bug Fix: Resolved an issue where deleted videos could reappear in the Channels Inbox.

Added AirPlay support to the inline player.
Added the ability to control-click the Start At button to set it as the currently running time.
You can now create an Auto-Tag based on the video description.

Playing all new videos now gives you the option to watch without marking them as watched when the Mark as Watched parameter is active.
Fix: Importing videos from a playlist no longer duplicates existing videos.

Play 2.0 brings the ability to follow YouTube channels and get new videos as they're released. You can save the ones you want to watch, and delete the rest. It integrates harmoniously with the existing feature set, allowing you to have a complete YouTube experience within the app - get new videos, save, organize, and watch without algorithms!
It also adds the ability to create folders for Tags and Smart Searches, giving you more ways to catalog and organize your videos.
These features are part of Play Premium, a subscription designed for features that extend Play's capabilities beyond saving videos for later. It brings a more sustainable business model to the app and allows me to invest in more advanced features, ensuring the app's long-term development.