Key Takeaways
- YouTube is widely rolling out the updated miniplayer design for Android and iOS that was announced last week.
- The new miniplayer was first spotted in July, with Google later confirming its existence.
- Furthermore, YouTube is making minor visual changes to the Android app’s Settings page, while the sleep timer feature should also be widely available to all users by now.
YouTube isn’t new to making design changes to its app. In 2018, the streaming platform carried out a controversial update by replacing the in-app picture-in-picture (PiP) window with what can only be described as a shrunken minibar at the bottom. While this minibar design has remained intact for the most part since then, save for a few changes, we came across some encouraging news this July suggesting that the PiP window could be making a comeback, with Google later confirming the development. Following the official announcement of the feature last week, YouTube is now widely rolling out this new miniplayer for Android.
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It’s unclear when the miniplayer began rolling out, but it’s been live on my Android smartphone for at least a day or two now. The folks at 9to5Google report seeing the updated miniplayer with version 19.41.39 of the app, though there’s likely a server-side push involved here. I could also spot this redesign on an old Apple iPhone lying around.
We’ve waited a long time for this
Previous minibar design vs the newly introduced miniplayer
When live, the updated miniplayer will appear once you minimize the video. While the change may be quite jarring initially, it’s a welcome addition, especially given how customizable it is. You can move the window to the four corners of the screen, while the miniplayer can also be stretched with a double tap, as you can see below in the first image. A pinch-out gesture works, too, though double-tapping is arguably easier.
The player expectedly doesn’t have too many buttons, featuring 10-second skip and forward options, a pause/play button, and a close button. Given how small this miniplayer is in its default form, accessing some of the buttons can sometimes be tricky. Barring this slight inconvenience, there’s not much to complain about with this design update.
In addition to the rollout of this miniplayer, YouTube users should also be seeing the sleep timer feature made official last week. Although this feature was exclusive to Premium subscribers initially, it’s now available to everyone. 9to5 also noticed a redesign of the YouTube app’s Settings page with highlighted headers for each section (Account, Video and audio preferences, Help and policy). Interestingly, the last header in the list, Developer preferences, is empty, indicating that it’s still a work in progress.
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