Enable users to permanently lock the thumbnail of a playlist

[Jared234]

Checklist

• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I'm aware that this is a request for NewPipe itself and that requests for adding a new service need to be made at NewPipeExtractor.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the feature request will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one feature request.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Feature description

Right now, there is no feature that allows you to permanently set the thumbnail of a playlist.
Such a feature could be introduced by pressing on the three dots in the playlist. There you could have an option to permanently lock the thumbnail. If it is pressed, the thumbnail of the playlist won't change. If you then press "unlock thumbnail" (only visible if thumbnail is currently locked) it can be changed again.
If the thumbnail video is not in the playlist anymore the first video gets selected as the new thumbnail video.

Why do you want this feature?

I want my thumbnail to stay the same for a particular playlist. The current implementation would lead to the playlist thumbnail constantly changing and thus not always being representative of my chosen playlist topic.

Additional information

I am a developer and would work on this issue myself.

[opusforlife2]

What does YT do?

[Jared234]

Youtube doesn't let the user decide which playlist thumbnails they want. The first video of the playlist always provides the thumbnail. So there isn't even an option to choose a playlist thumbnail if it isn't the first video.

[Outlet2048]

Thanks for creating this
As a note for future reference:
#9458 (comment) and onwards

[opusforlife2]

What about making the first video the playlist thumbnail, instead of the latest one? It would bypass this entire issue.

[Jared234]

Hmm... this would be an option, but I don't think that this will satisfy the desired use case completely. This still hinders you from permanently assigning a thumbnail to a playlist. Also, watching the thumbnail video would cause the "Remove Viewed" dialog to become unusable unless you also want to remove the current thumbnail.

[opusforlife2]

Ah, I was only thinking of remote playlists. Those could take the 1st index video's thumbnail permanently.

But for a local playlist, yes, no video is guaranteed to be permanent. I suppose we could also just show a placeholder sort of thumbnail there, to indicate that it is a local playlist. Fiddling with custom thumbnails seems too niche.

[Jared234]

Yes, for remote playlists this is not necessary. But if you create your own you want to be able to set a certain thumbnail (there already is an option to long press a video and then select its thumbnail as the playlist thumbnail; however it gets changed if the video is no longer in the playlist).
I'm sorry, but I'm not quite sure what you mean by a placeholder thumbnail for local playlists.

[opusforlife2]

there already is an option to long press a video and then select its thumbnail as the playlist thumbnail

Oh, I was unaware of this!

... Then yes, the simple solution is to store the playlist thumbnail independently of whatever videos are in it. The database size will increase as a result (scaling linearly with however many custom thumbnails there are), but only if someone is specifically going around setting thumbnails. So it won't impact most users.

I'm on board with this idea. Let's see if someone else has anything further to say.

[Jared234]

Ok, great. Would you agree with the suggestion I made in the issue description? I believe that this option would be the most non-intrusive and user-friendly way to handle this.

[opusforlife2]

There you could have an option to permanently lock the thumbnail

I don't see the need for an option. The default behaviour should be that whatever you set the playlist thumbnail to, it should stay that way forever. If the user wants to change it again, they could select a different thumbnail.

[Jared234]

So, right now the default behavior is that the thumbnail of the first video gets used as the playlist thumbnail. If it gets removed, the thumbnail gets updated to the first video in the playlist again. I believe that behavior shouldn't be changed.
Only if you have manually selected a playlist thumbnail it should be permanent right?
But what happens if you have manually set a thumbnail and then want to go back to the default behavior. This wouldn't be possible anymore... That's why I wanted to introduce a "lock" option, so you are able to "unlock" it again.

[opusforlife2]

"Unset" would be clearer, I think. You can set a particular thumbnail for a playlist, and that same dialog option would change to Unset so that it can be reverted.

[Jared234]

Thanks for the clarification. I will work on this soon.

[Jared234]

Hey. So, I have already started working on this but noticed one flaw in this approach.
What happens if you set a thumbnail and then remove the thumbnail video again? You are not able to long press the video (because it won't be in the playlist) and use the "unset" option.
I feel like having an extra option in the playlist to permanently lock/unlock a thumbnail is the only way to solve this issue completely.

[Outlet2048]

I feel like having an extra option in the playlist to permanently lock/unlock a thumbnail is the only way to solve this issue completely.

I would have assumed the option to lock / unlock would only be present in the Playlist menu
As a "global" setting for this Playlist
Otherwise the user might spend quite some time looking through larger playlists just to find the video in question, if it even exists

[opusforlife2]

What happens if you set a thumbnail and then remove the thumbnail video again? You are not able to long press the video (because it won't be in the playlist) and use the "unset" option.

The "Unset thumbnail" option could be in the playlist long-press menu instead, then. That would solve the problem. You set a thumbnail by long-pressing a video with that thumbnail. You unset it by editing the playlist itself.

[Jared234]

Unfortunately, there is no real long-press menu for playlist. Just this simple dialog:

Should I maybe add the "Unset thumbnail" within the playlist options like here?

[opusforlife2]

Should I maybe add the "Unset thumbnail" within the playlist options like here?

Yes, that's as good a place as any.

[SameenAhnaf]

I think, this is a better place to place the option. A checkbox like Automatic Thumbnail Selection should be added.

[goyalyashpal]

Youtube doesn't let the user decide which playlist thumbnails they want. The first video of the playlist always provides the thumbnail. So there isn't even an option to choose a playlist thumbnail if it isn't the first video.

wrong information

[Jared234]

@yashpalgoyal1304 Can you please provide a way to change the playlist thumbnail in the official YouTube app. AFAIK this is only possible if you use the web version of YouTube.

[goyalyashpal]

AFAIK this is only possible if you use the web version of YouTube.

the inspiration can be took from web version too - it ain't that specific of a thing which requires stuff to be available in only app form

most of the feature suggestions i share here come from YT web version itself, and i always mention the references

besides, you did not mention app, so, i thought u were talking in general sense "Youtube"

[Jared234]

Yeah, I see what you mean. 👍
Here is the explanation of how it works in Youtube:

• Youtube App: The playlist thumbnail changes automatically if you change the first video in the playlist.
• Youtube Web version: There are basically two options of changing a thumbnail.
  - As in the Youtube app, if you haven't manully selected a thumbnail the first video of the playlist will be the thumbnail
  - Like in NewPipe there is an option to select the thumbnail manually by clicking on the three dots right next to the video. However, if you remove the video, it is automatically unset as the playlist thumbnail. AFAIK there is no option to unset a thumbnail manually again.

@SameenAhnaf @opusforlife2 Now that you know what the web version does, should I implement the feature as discussed, or should we do it just like YouTube?

[SameenAhnaf]

@Jared234 I think, the user should be able to see if the playlist thumbnail is manually set. Automatic Thumbnail Selection will be helpful in this regard.

[Jared234]

Ok, then I will implement this feature as discussed.

[opusforlife2]

I think, this is a better place to place the option.

Doesn't make sense to put an unrelated checkbox in a Rename dialog.

[SameenAhnaf]

@opusforlife2 Well, you can also delete the playlist from that dialogue. So, long press on playlist lets user access Manage dialogue, not Rename dialogue.

Btw, local playlists actually do have Rename dialogue which is accessible from three dots menu.

[opusforlife2]

Ah. Then the dialog could be replaced by a proper long-press menu with items: Rename, Delete, Unset thumbnail.

The Rename item would further open the current dialog, just without the Delete button.

[Jared234]

Sure, I can implement that.
But do you prefer an Unset thumbnail option, or an Automatic Thumbnail Selection checkbox?

[opusforlife2]

In a menu with tappable list items, a checkbox wouldn't make sense. Or are you proposing putting it somewhere else?

[SameenAhnaf]

Set Thumbnail button is also relevant if there's an Unset Thumbnail button. However, adding Set Thumbnail will bring unnecessary complexities as the whole playlist will have to be shown.

Moreover, Manage dialogue does not only include tappable options. You still need to type to rename any playlist.

[Jared234]

Do you think it's enough to show the Unset Thumbnail button only if the user has set the playlist thumbnail manually? And otherwise the default dialog options will be only "Rename" and "Delete"?
I agree that allowing the user to set the thumbnail in the playlist tab would not be a good idea.

[SameenAhnaf]

Users should be known precisely what will happen if playlist thumbnail is unset. For a similar reason, we recommended to add an extra sub-note for night theme besides greying it out.

Btw, Always Select First Video for Thumbnail sounds clearer compared to Automatic Thumbnail Selection. Wdyt?

Also, RENAME word button to be replaced with OK button if we are planning to include the checkbox in Manage dialogue.

[Jared234]

I actually think that Automatic Thumbnail Selection is the better option, because we don't actually "Always Select First Video for Thumbnail". IMO this would mean that if you move a video to the top spot in your playlist, that the playlist thumbnail should be updated. This is how YouTube does it, but NewPipe won't change the thumbnail if you just change the order of your videos.

Maybe we could have an option "Select Thumbnail Automatically" that is always present in the long press menu of the playlist. It doesn't matter if you have manually selected a thumbnail or the thumbnail already has been automatically chosen. We would just choose the video that is currently at the top of the playlist to be the next thumbnail video.
I also believe that this option would be very clear, so no further explanation would be necessary.

[opusforlife2]

Manage dialogue does not only include tappable options

I was talking about the menu in #9468 (comment)

Do you think it's enough to show the Unset Thumbnail button only if

A greyed out list item would be better, I think. For users who don't know about this feature (like me a couple days ago!) this would be both a way to discover that the feature exists, and where to go in case they set a thumbnail they want to change later.

Basically:

• Long press local playlist.
• Menu with list items shows up: Rename, Delete, Unset thumbnail.
• Tapping Rename opens the current dialog (without the Delete button).
• Tapping Delete does its thing.
• The Unset thumbnail option is greyed out unless a thumbnail has actually been set.

[Jared234]

That sounds like a good idea. 👍