YouTube is officially rolling out a bunch of updates it's been testing in recent months, like a new mini player and a few design updates.
The YouTube app for Android and iOS is getting a new mini player. Instead of a second bar above the bottom bar with a tight rectangular crop, play/pause, and an x, it now looks like a picture-in-picture window.
The video appears at the top with a close button in the corner, and a bar below lets you play/pause and skip back/forward 10 seconds. In particular, you can move the mini player in the app and resize it to make it larger.
In the player settings menu > all users (free and premium) will have access to a new sleep timer. The steps are: 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes, 1 hour and end of video.
There is also fine-tuning of the playback speed with a new UI on mobile devices. Instead of a list of steps from 0.25x to 2x, you get a slider that allows you to make 0.05x steps. There are also plus/minus buttons and some presets at the bottom.
There are some updates to playlists, such as the ability to create custom thumbnails using your own images or with the help of AI. The latter is also available on YouTube Music, and will now be available on the web for the main site.
Similarly, collaborative playlists will appear on the main YouTube via a link or QR code on TVs (coming soon). Later this year, you'll be able to vote on videos in playlists to rank them.
YouTube is creating official badges that “celebrate unique YouTube milestones, like becoming an early paying member of a creator's channel or completing quizzes correctly.” On YouTube Music, you earn them for “becoming a top listener to their favorite artist or getting a creator to like your comment.” Keep an eye out for Badges in the You tab “in the next few weeks.”
