Shuffle Play
Watkins YouTube Playlist: a private Roku app for the Watkins household
Shuffle Play plays YouTube playlists on the family's Roku devices, the way YouTube's own Roku app doesn't:
- True shuffle, with the same artist kept apart and a fresh order every time, or straight through in order.
- Fades between songs, with the next song's picture and title while it loads.
- Per-song start and end points, so long intros and talking at the end can be skipped. They're set from the TV or in a Google Sheet.
- Old 4:3 videos framed with blurred sides instead of black bars.
- Search the playing playlist by voice or typing.
- Your own playlists, liked videos, and the uploads of channels you subscribe to.
Not a public app. Shuffle Play is installed only on the Watkins family's own Roku devices. It isn't in the Roku Channel Store and isn't offered to anyone else.
It is not made or endorsed by YouTube, Google or Roku. It uses YouTube API Services; see YouTube's Terms of Service.
Your data
Signing in with Google lets the app read your YouTube playlists (read-only) and keep one spreadsheet of song start and end points in your own Google Drive. Nothing is sent to any server of ours: the Roku talks to Google and YouTube directly. The details are in the privacy policy.