YouTube is completely changing how its video player looks on your phone

Adam Smith
Wednesday 02 February 2022 11:48 GMT
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(Getty Images)

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YouTube is completely changing how videos look when watching them on a phone.

The Google-owned video service will be adding the like and dislike button, the comments button, and the share button on the bottom left of the screen – rather than hidden behind a swipe-up gesture as it is now.

The dislike button will, however, no longer show quantitively the number of people pressing it. YouTube announced last month that it would be removing the visible dislike count because users were abusing it  “for many reasons, including some that have nothing to do with the video, which means it’s not always an accurate way to select videos to watch”, according to chief executive Susan Wojcicki.

The overhaul of YouTube’s layout will only show for users watching videos in the full-screen, landscape mode; for those watching it vertically, the layout will remain the same.

Tapping the comment button will now bring up other users’ messages on the right-hand side of the screen instead of the current format which required users to be in portrait mode to access them and then switch back into landscape mode.

The new user interface is not yet available to everyone, but it is being tested on both iOS and Android simultaneously and began rolling out on Monday.

Google also announced another niche change to its Gmail client yesterday, adding in Google Chat, Meet, and Spaces to a sidebar on the main site.

Google said that the new menu will make it easier to “stay on top of what immediately needs your attention” by letting users switch their attention without having to change tabs or windows.

The new design will be rolling out as an option in February but will become the compulsory option for premium Gmail users – those that have paid for its business services – by mid-2022.

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