YouTube tests Tamba, a standalone social app with private accounts and group chats

Code found in the Android app

Android Authority found references to a project called Tamba in the latest YouTube app for Android, version 21.44.534. The references sit under a separate identifier, "com.google.android.youtube.sandbox", which the code treats as its own application. A logo with a hand-drawn play button comes with 38 custom icons, among them ones for the camera, the inbox and the microphone. The files also contain identifiers for both Android and iOS, and the icons are drawn in a looser, less polished style than the clean vectors used in the main app. Google and YouTube have not announced the project, and the code alone does not show when or whether it would launch.

Social features in the code

The code mentions followers, follow requests, direct messages, group chats, posts and voice replies. It separates following someone, sending a request and approving it, which points to private accounts where the profile owner decides who may follow. Users could react to posts with a heart or answer them with a voice note. A friend could send a Short into a group chat, where others could watch it without leaving the conversation. The code also reportedly covers sending photos and videos, and the set of icons, which includes a padlock, a crown and a game controller, resembles messaging apps more than a classic video service.

What the sandbox label suggests

In software development, a sandbox is an isolated test area, so the label could mean Tamba does not have to appear as a separate program in the Google Play or App Store. It could instead serve as an internal test field where developers check social functions before adding them to the main YouTube app. The label is read as a sign that the project may be a trial space for experimental features rather than a finished service. Reports on the code also urge caution, since a sandbox identifier means the work may never reach users. Until the company decides otherwise, Tamba remains a test concept whose future is unclear.

Competitive backdrop

Tamba would bring YouTube closer to Instagram and TikTok in short-form video and direct communication. The Shorts format already gives YouTube a vertical video feed, and the platform also offers podcasts, live streams with paid chats, posts with photos and polls, chapters, AI-supported automatic dubbing and YouTube Music. Instagram's announcement of videos up to 90 minutes came about a week before 4 November 2026, and Instagram also offers reels, direct messages, broadcast channels and disappearing stories. TikTok is building a shop into its feed, while X wants to become an app for everything. Against that background, the sources describe Tamba as an effort to keep people inside YouTube for longer.