The YouTube app has been added a nice function for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners. From now on you can play videos in HDR, so that the image quality shoots up.
YouTube HDR iPhone XS support
Version 13.27 of the YouTube app adds more options to the video player. When setting the image quality, you will from now on come across an HDR option, if the video supports this of course. To do this, tap the three dots at the top right of the video and select ‘Quality’. Do you want to test it? This movie certainly has HDR.
You can turn on HDR per video, or select the top option so that the function turns on automatically. The update rolls out immediately and it can take about a week for your device to be updated. The iPhone X already received HDR support in the YouTube app earlier this year.
You can do this with HDR
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, or a large color range. The screen is able to distinguish more colors, which improves the image quality. Colors become fuller, objects look more ‘lively’ and especially contrasts become sharper.
You still cannot watch videos in 4K quality. This is a shame as more and more YouTube videos are being shot in this resolution. If you tap such a movie, the quality is automatically lowered.
This while the OLED screen of the iPhone XS (Max) can handle this resolution without any problems. The same is true when you watch 4K movies in the Safari browser on your Mac, or on the iPad Pro. It probably has to do with the technology that Google, the owner of YouTube, uses.
This is because Apple devices cannot handle the codec. This is a technique for wrapping videos to reduce size. This saves bandwidth, so that the video does not have to buffer as long, for example.