In an attempt to bring together Reels, longer videos and Live content in one fullscreen experience, Meta has decided to refresh its video player on Facebook. The most important change is the fact that when you tap on a video anywhere on the Facebook app, you’ll see a fullscreen, vertically oriented video.
Previously, the video player switched to horizontal or videos that played in a Feed-like player, depending on the length of that video or where you were watching. In addition to this change, Meta revealed that the upgraded fullscreen video features improved recommendations for videos of all lengths.
More importantly, the fullscreen video player has new controls, which are being rolled out over the next few weeks, allowing users to watch videos the way they want.
Even though videos will appear vertical automatically, users will see a new fullscreen option on most horizontal videos, which enables them to flip it to watch in landscape view.
The new controls also include a slider to skip around in longer videos, and the ability to tap on the video to bring up additional options that allow you to pause and jump back or forward 10 seconds.
As mentioned earlier, the update also brings more relevant video recommendations, regardless of length, on Feed and on the Video Tab. It’s important to note that the updated video player is rolling out on iOS and Android first in the United States and Canada, and globally in the coming months.