YouTube are taking inspiration from Instagram and TikTok by clearly indicating channels that are live streaming.

YouTube mobile users will soon see a red ring around the profile picture of any channel currently live streaming. All you need to do is tap the picture to jump straight to the stream from anywhere in the app. The feature update was announced by YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan on Twitter.

We’ve seen similar features across other social media apps, such as TikTok’s pulsing ring effect for users live streaming and Instagram’s colourful ring at the top of the feed. With the feature now available on YouTube too, this should make identifying and watching live streams easier across social media.


RouteNote are partnered with YouTube to help independent artists and labels upload their music, and earn revenue across YouTube with Content ID, YouTube Music and Shorts.