YouTube

YouTube kills off its classic desktop interface for good next month

Ben Schoon | Feb 4 2020 - 11:47 am PT

Over the past few years, YouTube has been tweaking its desktop interface with features such as dark mode and, more importantly, Material Design influences. Today, Google has announced that it will kill off the classic YouTube desktop interface in March 2020.

The Material revamp of YouTube’s web interface started in 2017, and in the time since, YouTube has continually tested tweaks to that design. However, for that entire time period, users have had the option to disable the “new” YouTube interface and keep using the classic UI.

Starting in March, YouTube will be killing off that classic desktop interface for anyone who’s still using it. From the looks of it, this older interface won’t be available at all, so it’s unclear if workarounds will be available for anyone who prefers the older style.

For those using the interface, a notification should appear now that tells you to “Switch to the new YouTube.” That message will also mention if your current browser is compatible with the new YouTube.

Enter 2020 and the older versions are missing many of the new features and design improvements we’ve introduced over the past three years, including top requests based on your feedback (see most recent update here). That’s why the older version will be going away in March and you’ll only be able to access newer desktop versions to enjoy the best of YouTube.

If you’re using an older version, you will see a notification telling you to “Switch to the new YouTube.” You may also need to update your browser if it’s not compatible with the new version. (We’ll let you know in the notification message if this is the case!)

It’s unclear exactly when the classic YouTube UI will be killed off, but if you’re still on the old version, it’s probably a good call to switch sooner rather than later.