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YouTube Music testing Now Playing redesign that places controls on same screen

Hot off the news that user uploads to a cloud library are rolling out, YouTube Music is testing a redesigned Now Playing screen. Compared to the current version, it’s cleaner and has easier to reach key controls.

Tipped to Android Police, the redesigned Now Playing screen does a much better job at making sure key controls are always visible. Most prominent is the elevation of shuffle and repeat from the “Up next” list to right besides back/forwards. As a result, thumbs up/down is next to the song title.

Just above, album art is no longer full-width, while the Song/Video switcher is now always visible instead of requiring a tap on the cover to reveal. The overflow menu has moved to the top-right corner, which might hurt reachability.

At the very bottom, there is a clear pull tab to access the queue and lyrics, which is not yet widely rolled out. Up next now spans the full height of the screen with YouTube Music opting for a mini-player up top that lets you skip to the next track.

The background color still adapts to the cover art, and this set of tweaks make for a much cleaner and more modern UI in 2020.

As is typical with the Google streaming service, this A/B test is not widely rolled out on version 3.53. The last time YouTube Music’s Now Playing screen was revamped it accompanied 2018’s major upgrade.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

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

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