YouTube Music redesigns web player to match Now Playing on Android

Abner Li | Mar 4 2024 - 9:17 am PT

Besides rolling out support for offline downloads, YouTube Music for web is getting a Now Playing redesign to match the Android version.

This redesign hides the app bar and introduces a fullscreen Now Playing experience that starts with the Song and Video switcher. That’s flanked by a minimize button and overflow menu where you can like/unlike songs. Cast controls aren’t found on the Now Playing page.

Album artwork appears below with a blurred background that shows a larger version, while you get the song name and artist next. Then there’s the timeline scrubber with play controls after that. The final row is home to Up next, Lyrics, and Related.

The new look matches the Android app, though a gradient background isn’t in use. (That revamp has yet to come to iOS.)

Old vs. new

Once you close Now Playing, there’s a new miniplayer design docked at the bottom. It looks like the mobile version with just play/pause and next track, as well as album artwork. Some users might not like the pared back functionality.

You can access it by minimizing the YouTube Music window, which makes for a nice and narrow PWA (Progressive Web App) experience. Overall, this revamp is cleaner than what came before.

The previous design more closely matched the wide, dual-column player that’s still available today and places controls at the bottom of your screen.

This web player redesign has been rolling out to YouTube Music over the past few weeks.