Change Volume, Brightness & Seek – Major Gestures in VLC for Android

If you use VLC for Android, the hit audio, video player and streamer for smartphones, then you must have come across the three major gestures for the player. They are: (1) Change Brightness, (2) Seek and (3) Change Volume. These three are accessible when you open up a video. The tip also shows up automatically on the screen explaining where and how you’d have to drag your finger across the screen to achieve the said function. These big three gestures are mostly used when viewing videos using the VLC app for Android.

Brighness, Seek and Volume Gestures

The on-screen tips that display every time when you open up a video file (pictured above) are self-explanatory. If you did forget those gestures, then this little guide will help you to figure it out.

Step 1: Open up a Video.

Step 2: The on-screen tips will show up. Dismiss it by pressing Got it, dismiss this.

Step: 3 Use the gestures

And here is how you use them while the video is playing.

  1. Control Brightness: Tap, hold and drag up or down on the left side of the screen. Drag up and the brightness will go up and do the opposite and the screen will darken.
  2. Seek: Navigate the video. Tap, hold and drag left or right in the middle of the screen. Move your finger towards the left and the player will rewind the video and take you back. Move towards the right and the player will fast forward the video. You can go to the exact position that you want. This has to be one of the most used features in the app. Another bonus tip while seeking: Tap on the right side of the screen twice and it will go 10 seconds forward in the video. Tap on the left side of the screen twice and you rewind 10 seconds back into the video.
  3. Change Volume: Tap, hold and drag your finger on the far right side of the screen. Move your finger up and you will find the volume increasing and if you move your finger down, the sound will go down as well.

Turning off or on These 3 Gestures

If you want to turn off these gestures or turn them back on, follow these steps:

  • Tap on … More (bottom-right)
  • Click on ⚙ Settings.
  • Scroll down, and tap on Video under Extra settings.
  • Scroll down and check off or on the Volume gesture, Brightness gesture, and Double tap to seek option under Controls.

Turn off Gestures

7 thoughts to “Change Volume, Brightness & Seek – Major Gestures in VLC for Android”

  1. Wow, I spent way too much time searching for the volume control in VLC android app.

    I had gestures for one session and then they just stopped working.

    i can select the options in the advanced video settings but no matter how they’re set, they DO NOT WORK at all.

    Any idea what’s going on here? I use VLC on my desktop and I’m a power user. I cannot find the VLC volume control anywhere in the app. Gesture only BS.

  2. I’d love to see these gestures working also for audio files. Well brightness maybe doesn’t make sense but the other 2 most definitely.

  3. one other thing – it doesn’t work in the TV Adapted Theme, or at least it doesn’t for me (The very first option in Settings>Interface), so keep that box unchecked.

  4. hello i’ve been trying to adjust the brightness on this player for the past hour. this feature doesnt seem to work on my touch screem chromebook. nothing happens when i tap and hold the screen on the left side. is there another way to adjust the brightness? this is very frustrating

    1. I was having the same problem, and it was because under Settings>Video>Controls I had the ‘Seek Buttons – Show rewind and forward buttons on the video interface’ also selected with the gestures. Take that box off and they should be back – it’s what worked for me!

    2. If nothing else works just adjust your Chromebooks own brightness, I turned on auto brightness and sit in a well lit area, or point my bedside lamp towards the screen. I’m having the same issues as you with my 2021 Chromebook. I can seek forward or back with the left/right sliding gesture in the middle of the screen. Double tap on left or right of screen seeks by +/- 10 seconds, but brightness and volume gestures just don’t work. However by comparison on my Lenovo android tablet, everything works as it is supposed to. I have been encountering this quite a bit with my Chromebook, since I purchased it late last year I didn’t actually know it was a Chromebook when I purchased it (entirely my own fault). I thought it was an android tablet with removable keyboard. I’m not unhappy with it, just finding things like VPN’s have to be purchased in specific formats for chromebook. I would have thought by now more software would cater for chromebook, but I’m finding a lot does not.

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