YouTube has reached the end of the road: It's officially terminating a popular feature

YouTube, one of the world's most popular video platforms, has finally announced that it's giving up on a feature it has stubbornly maintained for a long time.

In a move last month, Google declared the end of the lesser-used "YouTube Stories" feature, instead choosing to devote resources to fresher, more popular offerings such as YouTube Shorts and Community posts. This directional shift seems to have taken effect, evidenced by a discreet user interface modification rolled out to YouTube's audience in a recent update.

Initially, this novel UI adjustment was trialed among a select group of YouTube users for beta testing. Now, the UI modification is being introduced to all YouTube users, positioning the YouTube Shorts section prominently at the top of the subscription feed. Ranked second in priority, it immediately follows the latest video from your subscribed channels. This alteration is observable on both the YouTube desktop site and the Android and iOS applications.

In addition to its existing spots in the recommendation tab and the Shorts Tab, the updated UI also situates the Shorts Section in the subscription feed tab on the desktop. YouTube Shorts, which were previously only visible in the recommendation tab and the Shorts Tab, will henceforth also be featured in your subscriptions. Lauded as rivals to TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts are classified as brief vertical videos that automatically replay, making them a captivating content format for users who can easily lose hours scrolling through the material.

YouTube has reached the end of the road: It's officially terminating a popular feature

Although YouTube Shorts' popularity has surged over time, the same cannot be said for YouTube Stories. This feature, which borrows from Instagram and Snapchat, allows content creators to upload videos that vanish after 24 hours. YouTube has officially announced the discontinuation of the Stories feature, set for June 26. From that date, creators will be unable to post new stories on their pages, although existing stories will remain visible on creator profiles for the standard seven days. By Monday, July 3, the YouTube platform will be entirely bereft of stories.

The YouTube user interface has undergone multiple transformations over the past half-decade. With alterations ranging from the introduction of video playback speed adjustments to the removal of the dislike button on videos, each modification invariably sparks conversation within the platform's user community. The implications of these changes—whether favorable or otherwise—are topics of ongoing debate. However, it is irrefutable that the YouTube platform of today differs significantly from its incarnation five years prior.