Skip to main content

YouTube Music gets a new icon/branding, hints at forward/rewind controls [APK Teardown]

With YouTube’s brand redesign in August, Google’s video service significantly revamped its web app, while its mobile apps received various tweaks to match. YouTube Music was initially updated with some of this new branding, but this week receives a new icon.

About APK Teardowns: In this ‘APK teardown,’ we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that was uploaded to the Play Store. When an app (or an APK, to be specific, in the case of Android apps) is decompiled, we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. With that in mind, read on.

In line with the latest branding, the new Music logo is a simpler red and white design. It drops the black of the vinyl, while adopting a brighter red like the other icons. The layered effect from the previous icon is also gone, with the new logo being a completely flat vinyl record.

This icon is Adaptive on Android 8.0 Oreo and as such, this already circular icon gets placed in another circle on Pixel and other supported devices. This is unsurprising given how that’s the behavior for other YouTube icons, but it seems unfortunate to place a circle within another circle.

Other design changes include how the “Music” text in the app bar is in the newer, tighter font adopted by YouTube.

A teardown of version 2.04.5 does not yield any new mentions of YouTube Plus that we saw previously, while there are references to the ability to Fast forward and Rewind, with accompanying icons. However, it is not yet live in the app.

<string name=”accessibility_rewind”>Rewind</string>

<string name=”accessibility_fast_forward”>Fast forward</string>

Version 2.04.5 is rolling out now on Android, with these changes also available on iOS.

Dylan contributed to this article


Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com