Have you ever wanted to share an inspirational, educational or just downright hilarious YouTube video with your loved one, but it was always too much of a challenge or because of the distance? Well now you can!
The "Share YouTube Videos" feature enables you to send a YouTube playlist that you've created to your loved one, and then in the future lets you change the playlist as you wish, giving you the flexibility to send new content as needed.
Here's a 3 minute video that introduces you to this feature, or continue reading this article to learn more.
Getting Started with YouTube Video Sharing
To use this feature, you must be set up as a Caregiver. If you need help with this, please contact our support at care@onscreeninc.com.
You will also need to have a YouTube account, which can be easily created by going to YouTube.com or using the YouTube mobile app and signing up for an account.
Once you have your YouTube account, create a YouTube playlist, which lets you store multiple videos in one place. This will be the playlist that you provide the ONSCREEN App later. Once the playlist is created, you can then search for interesting videos on YouTube that you'd like to share, and add them to this playlist. Here's YouTube's official article on how to manage a playlist.
After you've created your playlist, it's time to copy it over to the ONSCREEN App.
Open the YouTube app on your mobile device.
While still in the YouTube app, click "Share" and select "Copy Link". Now the link to the playlist is copied on your mobile clipboard.
Open the ONSCREEN App, and scroll to the "Share YouTube Video" section and click "Setup."
You will get a prompt to paste the playlist URL. Tap inside the text field, and "long press" until the option to Paste the URL shows up. Select Paste, and now you will see the URL in the field. Then click "OK."
Now the playlist is loaded into ONSCREEN, and ready to play.
Two Ways to Play YouTube Videos
We've built this feature to give you 2 modes of playing the video playlist for your loved one.
You can share a video for them to watch at any time, by simply clicking the "Play" button.
You can set up the video to play automatically as part of the Daily Update feature.
Playing Now
Using the "Play" button to send the video now will load it on the loved one's screen at that moment. If the TV is off, it will be turned on, and the TV will switch to the ONSCREEN device port, and play the video. The playlist will play entirely, meaning if there are 4 videos in the playlist, they will all complete.
You will be able to see the playing status inside the ONSCREEN App, and you will know when the playing has been completed.
When playing completes, if the ONSCREEN device was set up to return to another TV input after a call, it will do so.
Playing as Part of Daily Update
Once the playlist is loaded, you can set up the Daily Update feature to play the playlist at the scheduled Daily Update time.
Tap the "Setup" button next to Daily Update
Scroll to "Additional Options" and enable "the setting for "Share YouTube Video at Start"
Now, when the scheduled Daily Update time arrives, the video playlist will play first, and then the senior will be prompted to record their update. This is a great way to have a daily workout video, meditation, training video or other content that you might want your loved one to experience on a scheduled basis.
Preset Playlists
To make it easy, we've also curated a few playlists that we think older adults might benefit from, and they can be seen here in the red area:
Simply tap on a playlist, and select "Set as playlist." You can also watch the curated playlist on your device, by tapping "Watch on my device."
We Love Your Feedback
We're very excited about this new feature and think it provides a great way to keep your aging loved ones engaged, entertained, and mentally stimulated. Please send any bugs, suggestions, or comments to care@onscreeninc.com and we will take it all into account. Thanks!