What you need to know
- YouTube Music has been spotted testing a long-requested “Find in playlist” feature, letting users search inside massive playlists.
- The feature was spotted on iOS version 8.45.3 in India, but availability is said to be extremely limited.
- Some features, such as searching inside saved radio playlists, may still be missing at this stage.
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YouTube Music users have long been frustrated by the lack of an option to search within a playlist, but the platform looks to be introducing a feature that finally fixes that shortcoming.
As per a user post on Reddit, and first reported by Android Authority, version 8.45.3 of YouTube Music on iOS includes a new "Find in playlist" option within the overflow menu. The user claims to be located in India.
Essentially, you’ll be able to open a playlist, tap the three-dot menu, and then type to locate songs inside large playlists using the new option. Until now, if you had hundreds of tracks in a playlist, you’d just have to scroll or hope you remembered roughly where the song was. This update addresses that pain point.
Android left out (for now)
However — and this is a big caveat— it’s not yet widely available, according to comments on the Reddit post. Android users in particular seem left out for now. It is, therefore, safe to assume that this is part of an A/B test.
For power users who maintain big playlists, this is a big usability win. The update moves YouTube Music closer to feature parity with the leading music streaming apps like Spotify by tackling a long-standing complaint. On Spotify, you can swipe down on any playlist screen to reveal the "Find in playlist" search bar at the top.
The absence of the same feature on YouTube Music until now had been a frequent gripe, so it's nice to see Google finally paying attention to user feedback — this kind of quality-of-life improvement matters.
The rollout appears to be extremely limited. Even among those who have the same app version (8.45.3), many still don’t see the feature. It seems sneakily enabled for selected accounts, which means you could update and still not get it yet.
Some functionality may still be missing: for example, the reports say radios saved in the Library may not support the search feature yet.
While the search feature is not fully out yet, it’s a meaningful step forward nonetheless. For now, you might have to sit tight and wait for your account to get the option. When it finally hits your region and your device, your playlist-browsing life will feel a little smoother.
