YouTube to introduce transcription feature to Android app. See details here

The feature has proved to be particularly useful in long videos, as it helps in finding or extracting favorite quotes by searching the automatically generated transcript of the video. Like most Google apps’ updates, this one also seems to be server-sided.

In another related update, Android users will no longer be able to use the popular YouTube Vanced application. According to The Verge, the creators of Vanced have decided to shut down the application in the coming days due to “legal reasons.”

Note: YouTube Vanced is a version of the original app that allows users to block all video ads on YouTube without a premium subscription. Vanced also includes a true black theme, and customizations not offered in the official YouTube for Android app.

“Vanced has been discontinued. In the coming days, the download links on the website will be taken down. We know this is not something you wanted to hear but it’s something we need to do. Thank you all for supporting us over the years,” a post read on the Twitter handle of the Vanced application. The currently installed versions will work just fine, “until they become outdated in 2 years or so.”

Meanwhile, last week YouTube blocked access around the world to channels associated with Russian state-funded media, it said on Friday, citing a policy barring content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events. The world’s most used streaming video service, which is owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now fell under its violent events policy and violating material would be removed.

YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo said the blocking of the Russian outlets was in line with that policy. Previously, YouTube had blocked leading Russia state-backed channels RT and Sputnik across Europe.

Russian state media have called restrictions placed on them by distributors, which include app stores and other social media services, unjustified censorship.