The YouTube Music PWA has improved a great deal in 2024

In recent months, the YouTube Music website/Progressive Web App (PWA) has seen a number of updates that combine to really overhaul the desktop experience and make it more competitive.

In March, music.youtube.com gained the ability to download songs. Previously, the only path for offline playback on desktop (just ChromeOS) was using the Android application.

With the PWA adding offline support, Mac and Windows finally have this basic music app capability that is helpful when traveling, like on planes. This functionality was a big reason why people wanted a native desktop client. I don’t think Google is ever going to build that given the philosophical preference for websites that work across platforms and from a resource commitment standpoint.

In an ideal world, downloads in YTM would have arrived soon after youtube.com added the capability for videos at the end of 2021. Regardless, it’s here 2.5 years later and works as expected.

Last month, the YouTube Music website redesigned albums and playlists to match the Android tablet/foldable app. This was a nice modernization that adopted a two-column layout that I think is a better use of space than the previous list. The prominent album art and blurred background make the site a bit more lively. There were some issues when it initially rolled out, but things have stabilized. 

That layout pairs nicely with the navigation rail, which can be expanded to provide quick access to playlists, that was introduced as part of a big website redesign last June. That overhaul presumably set the foundation for the updates this year.

In comparison, the Android app has a stretched bottom bar that’s merged with the miniplayer for a thick look on wider screens. The web miniplayer is richer with more buttons, as well as information, offered for one-click control. In May, YTM started remembering the last played song (and podcast episode) for quick resumption when you open the PWA again. This small change made the site feel so much more like a persistent application.

For those that shrink YouTube Music down to a portrait window, the player was updated in March to look like Now Playing on the Android and iOS apps. Overall, it makes for a cleaner, more modern interface that’s nice for cross-platform consistency.

With these updates, I’ve replaced the mobile app, which was previously my primary use of Android on ChromeOS, with the PWA when using Chromebooks. That’s not a knock on the tablet optimizations made to YTM for Android, but the website offers more UI complexity (see: the miniplayer) and is a better fit for desktop.

Android and iOS are clearly the priority for YouTube Music. That’s not particularly surprising, but I hope updates to the PWA will more closely track the mobile apps going forward.