YouTube rolls out app redesign with new icons and video player

YouTube has begun rolling out a wide redesign of its mobile apps, deploying version 20.42 to Android and iOS devices this week and introducing a refreshed icon set across its main app and music service on mobile and the web. The update focuses on a redesigned video player and bolder, more rounded iconography intended to improve visibility and to reduce how much of the screen’s content is obscured by interface elements.

The most visible changes appear in the video player. In portrait the landscape button is larger and enclosed in a circle. In landscape the primary playback controls, including like and dislike, comment, save and share, are grouped in a pill-shaped container at the bottom-left corner. Pausing a video no longer darkens the background, and the double-tap skip animation has been made smaller and less intrusive. The like and dislike icons have been redrawn with a longer thumb shape, and tapping like now triggers a dynamic, content-specific animation such as floating musical notes for music videos or sport-themed cues for game footage.

Appwide iconography has been updated to thicker, rounded outlines and generally heavier strokes across top and bottom bars, menus and...