YouTube is testing creator voice replies

The next time you comment on a YouTube video, you could hear its creator’s voice respond to you. YouTube says it’s testing out a feature with a “small number” of creators that lets them record an audio reply to comments on their videos.

YouTube says it hopes this experiment “enables more meaningful relationships between creators and their audiences.” YouTubers in the test group can use it by tapping the sound wave icon when replying to a comment, tapping “record a voice reply,” and then posting it as normal. However, anyone else can interact with these replies just like ordinary text comments.

For now, creators in the test group can only create voice replies in the iOS app, and only on their own videos. Where you can hear the replies seems to be limited, too; I didn’t have the option to listen to the above voice reply from YouTuber ThioJoe in a web browser on my Mac, but I could play it in the YouTube app on my iPhone 15 Pro and Pixel 6 phones.