YouTube rolling out updated miniplayer on Android, iPhone [U]

YouTube teased a “little refresh” of the mobile app’s miniplayer earlier this week, and this update is now rolling out on Android and iOS. This follows the “feedback” people sent in after the October launch.

Original 5/15: Last year, the YouTube app switched from a miniplayer bar above the bottom bar to a floating design that takes after picture-in-picture. The upside was being able to actually watch the video while browsing the app, but some did not like the obtrusiveness of this new approach.

YouTube has now updated the design to remove the control strip at the bottom with play/pause and 10-second rewind/skip. Now a bit shorter, you just get play/pause in the top-left corner with a persistent icon, though the circular container does disappear after a few seconds.

Old vs. new

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The close ‘x’ is across from that and the bottom edge still shows a red progress bar. Once the video is done, you get a repeat button to rewatch it. Like before, you can adjust the size of the miniplayer.

Meanwhile, you can now tuck the miniplayer to the left or right side of your screen, like the system-level picture-in-picture window. A handle lets you quickly bring it back. YouTube on Tuesday noted how: “when you hide the miniplayer, your video will be paused & when the miniplayer is visible again, it’ll pick up right where it left off!” We’re not seeing this behavior today, with the video continuing to play.

We’re seeing this update to the YouTube miniplayer on Android (version 20.19.37) today. 

Update 5/21: This in-app miniplayer redesign is now rolling out to iOS with version 20.20.5 of YouTube.