YouTube gets Liquid Glass redesign — what’s changed

A phased global release of visual updates and new features by YouTube is being rolled out to make viewing more enjoyable and navigation more intuitive. The updates began appearing on October 13 across mobile devices, the web version, and TVs.

This information comes from YouTube’s official blog.

What’s changing

YouTube has refreshed the overall viewing interface. The updated video player is cleaner and more immersive: controls feature new icons and rounded shapes, and the interface covers less of the content. This style partly resembles Apple’s Liquid Glass. The team says the goal is to combine the energy of the content with the interface design to create a more enjoyable viewing experience.

Interaction during playback has also been improved. The double-tap gesture for skipping was updated to look more modern and less distracting. On smartphones, switching between tabs is smoother thanks to updated animations.

Content actions received special attention as well. Likes on certain videos now feature custom animations that match the theme of the video—for example, a musical note for music clips or a sports prompt for athletic videos. Adding videos to "Watch Later" and playlists has become simpler and more visually clear. Comments now support threaded replies, which structures conversations and makes reading in the replies panel easier.

Some of these changes were previously tested earlier this year on select devices, and now the redesign is gradually reaching all users on the web, Android, iOS, and TV apps.

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