Google is expanding the scope of YouTube Premium, delivering fresh features across more platforms to strengthen the value of its paid subscription. In a community update, the company confirmed that the latest rollout brings audio upgrades, playback flexibility, and new Shorts tools to Android, iOS, web browsers, smart TVs, and consoles. These changes aim to further distinguish Premium from YouTube’s free tier, which continues to carry ads and fewer controls.
At the top of the list is the launch of high-quality audio playback at 256 Kbps in the YouTube apps for Android and iOS. This audio boost has existed in the YouTube Music app and as an optional experiment for video playback but is now officially part of Premium. The enhancement is limited to official and premium music videos plus Art Tracks, but it marks a meaningful improvement for users who primarily stream music and want a richer listening experience without leaving YouTube.
Playback tools are also seeing meaningful upgrades. Premium subscribers can now adjust video speed in increments as fine as 0.05x, all the way up to 4x, across mobile apps and the web. In addition, the skip forward feature, which uses AI combined with user data to identify and leap to the most relevant portions of a video, is expanding to televisions and gaming consoles. This ensures that YouTube viewers on living room screens can navigate long-form videos with the same ease as those on mobile or desktop.
On the Shorts side, Google is adding Smart Downloads that automatically save videos based on individual viewing patterns. After testing on iOS, the feature is now fully rolling out, complementing its earlier Android launch. Similarly, Picture-in-Picture support for Shorts is no longer an experiment—iOS users can now shrink Shorts into a floating window while continuing to explore the platform. Together, these features strengthen YouTube’s mobile-first content experience while giving users more control.
In terms of pricing, YouTube Premium remains set at $13.99/month or $139.99/year for individuals, with the Family plan priced at $22.99/month and the Student plan at $7.99/month. For those who only care about removing ads, Google continues to offer Premium Lite, though it is more limited in scope and still allows certain ads in some parts of the app. With these new rollouts, YouTube is clearly positioning Premium as not just ad-free YouTube, but as a full-featured upgrade that stretches across music, video, Shorts, and now big-screen devices.