YouTube for Android TV makes it easier than ever to swap between accounts

There are now more streaming options than you can shake a stick at, and practically all of them are in competition with one another. One of the easiest ways to level the field is feature parity, which looks to be exactly what Google is going for with its latest update to Android TV.

Between the base Android TV OS and devices running the Google TV OEM skin on top of that, there are already several hundred million users on the platform. YouTube is also one of the most-used streaming apps, and on Android TV, it's now getting even better with a (mostly) new feature that will help each individual user maintain their own account and watch history.

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One of the biggest differences between Google TV and Android TV is that the former lets you create multiple users tied to each individual Google account in your household. This means the YouTube app for Google TV already provides an experience customized to the specific person using the TV at that time, but on Android TV, it's not that simple.

Android Authority reports that YouTube for Android TV is now receiving a Netflix -like account switcher in its latest update. While there was already an account switcher UI buried in the app — even on Android TV — there was a lot of room for improvement. The existing process took at least six different button presses to change accounts, and by default, the app would automatically log back in with the last account used. The new update will ask you on launch which of the accounts you want to use.

Left: Google Chromecast, Right: Nvidia Shield TV Pro

When will the update roll out?

Depending on what you use to access YouTube on Android TV, you might have already been signed out of the app. Some users reported that they had been logged out of their YouTube apps across various Android TV devices, but all you have to do is log back in, then you should find the profile select screen. You can swap profiles without opening the YouTube app's settings, which will save you a lot of time when moving between one account and another.

On the downside, if you're the only profile on your account, this update adds an extra step that wasn't there before.

The account switcher brings YouTube more in line with services like Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and pretty much every popular streaming app on the market. Why Google allowed the app to remain as convoluted as it did, who knows — but we aren't going to complain about it. The update isn't live everywhere yet, and YouTube has yet to officially acknowledged the change, so if you don't see the new account switcher UI right away, don't sweat it.