YouTube’s Revamped Mini Player May Hide Controls In Unexpected Places
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Summary
- Google is testing a significant redesign of the YouTube mini player.
- The updated design removes the dedicated bottom bar with skip forward and backward buttons, moving the pause button to the left corner.
- While basic functionalities like closing the player and the double-tap gesture remain, the final design could change before it rolls out for everyone.
YouTube is one of the best streaming platforms, so much so that many users are willing to pay a fee to get the best experience with a Premium subscription. However, if you can live with ads, you can experience improved streaming sessions without paying a monthly fee if you’re well aware of features such as mini player, handy swipe gestures, incognito mode, to name a few. Of all these features, the mini player is the one Google is currently planning major changes to.
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Google is currently testing a major redesign for the YouTube mini player with some of its beta testers. Folks over at Android Authority were lucky enough to get it working on their devices, and based on what we’ve seen so far, the redesign doesn’t feel helpful at all.
YouTube’s updated mini player hides more than it helps
You can switch to the mini player by swiping down on the YouTube video. The mini player is helpful because it also allows you to scroll your home page, search, and visit anywhere in the app without interrupting the video playback. The updated mini player in the YouTube beta version 20.18.32 also does all of this, but snatches some key control options.
Image source: Android Authority
As things stand right now, the YouTube mini player features pause, skip forward, and backward buttons in a tiny bar at the bottom of the player. This way, you can easily control the video playback even when you are watching videos in the mini player. On the other hand, the updated mini player gets rid of that bottom bar as well as the skip forward and backward buttons. It still lets you pause the video, but the button now appears in the left corner of the mini player.
Not everything in YouTube’s mini player has changed, though. For example, the close option is still positioned in the top right corner. You still have the option to use the double-tap gesture to shrink or expand the mini player. You also see the option to skip ads if you don’t have YouTube Premium.
It’s worth reiterating that YouTube’s new mini player is in testing, and none of these changes are generally available. And that means the final design might be a bit different from what it is today. For example, the company might consider bringing back the skip buttons, and if that’s what the company wants to do, I would love to see them floating in the mini player instead of appearing in an opaque bottom bar. Only time will tell whether any of this becomes a reality when the final UI changes are available for all.
