YouTube Switcher

Watch YouTube playlists with an adaptive switch or a touchscreen. Hold to move on, with sounds and animation to confirm every action.

What to play Pick one: your own playlists, a ready-made one, a link, or a search
Your YouTube playlists

Sign in to choose from the playlists on your own account.

A good place to start. Playlists with a magnifying glass are built from a YouTube search and keep finding new videos.

Open any playlist on YouTube.com and copy the address from the browser bar.

Type anything and play the results like a playlist.

Switch and timing How long to hold, and what a hold does

How long the switch or touch must stay held before anything happens.

Simple plays the next video on every hold. Choice opens a board of big buttons that light up one at a time; a hold picks the lit one. Settings with a teal bar are for Choice mode.

Switch availability Make the switch briefly unavailable, and show when it is

After something happens, the switch stops working for this long — helpful for a learner who keeps pressing. Off keeps today's behavior.

A thick red edge appears around the screen whenever the switch is not available.

Plays when the switch is pressed while it is unavailable.

When the video… What happens when a video ends, and after a set amount of watching

Normally YouTube moves straight on to the next video. Choose a board to let the learner decide instead.

The video stops on a calm screen until a press, then whatever is chosen above happens.

It counts only while the video is playing, so it pauses while a board or the menu is open.

What happens once the playback timer above runs out.

The switch is unavailable (with the red border, if that is on) from the start of each video until the timer runs out or the video ends.

Normally a press during a red light just shows the switch is unavailable. The Take-a-rest board lets the learner choose to wait on purpose instead.

How long the red screen stays up after "Take a rest" is chosen.

Normally a playlist starts on its first video. With this on, it starts somewhere different each time. Searches already pick a random video whether or not this is on.

Context board

Alternating is predictable. Random stops the learner from learning the sequence instead of reading the colour.

Swaps the green and orange buttons' left/right order from time to time, so position can't substitute for the colour.

How long the grey screen stays up before the board asks again.

Choice boards Scanning speed, layout, and the buttons on each board

Choice mode Not in use while switch mode is Simple

How long each button stays lit before the next one.

How many playlists or videos a board offers. Fewer means a shorter scan.

Turns one long strip of thin buttons into a grid.

Fades the buttons that aren't lit, so the lit one stands out.

The video holds still while a board is open. Turn off to keep it playing.

Before scanning starts

While it waits on its own, the red unavailable border shows. The press that starts the scan does not choose anything.

Has no effect while "Wait for a press" is selected above.

When the scan reaches the end

Waiting leaves the board up with nothing lit. The press that starts the scan again does not choose anything. The Take-a-rest board always closes instead, and the Context board always keeps scanning.

Buttons on each board

Each row is one button. Rename it, recolour it, or change the sound it makes as it lights up. Switch a row off to remove that button. Rows marked Always stay on because they are the way back out of a board.

Sounds and speech Volume levels, what plays when a hold succeeds, and spoken button names

How loud the video plays. You will hear the change when the video resumes. On iPhone and iPad the device volume buttons control the video instead.

The charge-up, success, choice and other feedback sounds. Letting go of the slider plays the success sound at the new level.

Spoken button names in Choice mode. Letting go of the slider says a short sample when Spoken labels is on.

Plays when a hold succeeds and the video changes. Pick Random for a different sound each time. The charge-up sound while holding stays the same.

Choice mode Not in use while switch mode is Simple

Plays when a hold picks the lit button.

Reads each button's name aloud as it lights up.

This playlist isn't available right now

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