Chrome 67 for Android redesigns video player w/ clean, transparent UI & double-tap gestures

Abner Li | Jun 11 2018 - 7:57 am PT

Chrome 67 rolled out last month a with a handful of developer APIs and in-development design changes, like a horizontal tab switcher. The latter requires enabling a flag, but this update does include a redesigned video player that is now widely rolling out.

These “New Media Controls” were first spotted in December, but have undergone a key change since then. The primary appearance remains the same with a minimalist progress bar that features timestamps on the left-hand side and mute/unmute, fullscreen, and an overflow button. The latter opens a menu for enabling captions that was previously included on the bar, but now relegated to provide a cleaner appearance.

On the previous design, these controls were displayed against a gray bar with another play/pause button to the left. The new design is mostly transparent with users able to see what’s underneath the control strip. Since the design was first spotted in 2017, Google has made it more transparent with less of a gray overlay to highlight the controls.

Meanwhile, this design also includes double-tap gestures to skip forward and backward for YouTube videos, just like on the native app counterpart.

This design looks up-to-date and fits in with Chrome’s “Modern Design” — which has yet to widely launch — featuring brighter backgrounds, rounded elements, and new icons. Chrome 67 is rolling out now via the Play Store.