YouTube Music appears to be settling on a new Now Playing screen redesign following a year of testing on Android and iOS.
The latest redesign brings a cleaner and more intuitive user interface with new icons for the “Song” and “Video” switcher.
This significant enhancement over previous variants that removed the switcher entirely in favour of a single button in the bottom carousel.
With this update, the Alphabet-owned YouTube offers long-time users’ muscle memory that isn't disrupted and keeps the music video library visible.
The carousel, progress bar, and playback controls remain unchanged. The progress bar is rounded and it has removed a playhead, though it becomes thicker during scrubbing.
These minor tweaks advance the interface and align it with the company’s main app.
A more significant update affects the three buttom tabs. The “Up Next” tab has been renamed to show the album, playlist, or mix currently playing, while the Related and Lyrics tabs have been removed.
Users can access Related content by clicking the song title.
Lyrics functionality is now incorporated into the carousel. Some designs place it right after the thumbs up/down pill, while others position it as the fourth item partially off-screen.
The first option is considered more user-friendly because of the high usage of lyrics.
Overall, the redesign is a perfect balance of a modernized look with familiarity, enhancing usability while retaining key features long-time listeners rely on.
