YouTube adopts Apple's 'Liquid Glass' for new video player design

YouTube has unveiled a bunch of design changes coming to the video platform, and it seems to be heavily inspired by Apple's 'Liquid Glass' aesthetic.

YouTube adopts Apple's 'Liquid Glass' for new video player design
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Tech and Science Editor
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1 minute & 45 seconds read time
TL;DR: YouTube is updating its video player with a cleaner, more immersive design inspired by Apple's iOS changes, featuring modernized seek controls, improved app fluidity, animated custom likes, enhanced Watch Later functionality, and a structured comment threading system to boost user engagement and viewing satisfaction.

YouTube is updating the aesthetics of its video player, and it appears to have drawn significant inspiration from Apple's recent design change, which was recently rolled out to iOS devices.

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In a new blog post, Google, the owner of YouTube, has announced a bunch of new changes coming to the video platform, most of which are intended to usher in a cleaner, more immersive viewing experience. The update includes an overhaul of the visual experience on mobile, web, and TV devices, which includes updated controls and icons. Google writes that these changes are to make the "viewing experience more visually satisfying while obscuring less content".

The announcement also states YouTube has made changes to the "Seek" feature, which is the ability to double-tap either side of the screen to fast-forward/rewind the video by several seconds. The improvement involves the skip feature being modernized and less intrusive to the viewing experience.

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Mobile users who open YouTube and jump between different applications should notice an improvement in the fluidity of the YouTube app, as the blog post states, "you'll notice a more seamless experience as you move between tabs with improved motion design."

Additionally, new forms of engagement are coming to YouTube, such as custom likes on selected content, which involves adding animation to hitting the like button on a video. For example, if a user likes a sports video, the animation will be a visual cue from the game they are watching, while liking a music video will be an animated musical note.

Furthermore, YouTube is rolling out improvements to adding videos to your Watch Later list, which is now smoother and more visual, along with a refreshed design that simplifies the process of saving a video easier. Lastly, comment sections are changing on videos, with YouTube now rolling out a structured threading system intended to provide a more focused reading experience.