Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube is updating the mini player on mobile.
- The video will now be paused if you hide the mini player.
- The mini player’s design has also been refreshed.
Earlier this month, it was spotted in the beta version of the YouTube app that some updates were coming for the in-app mini player. It appears YouTube is done testing these tweaks and is now rolling out the redesign to the stable channel.
In a social post on X (formerly Twitter), YouTube announced it is updating the mini-player experience on the mobile app. The new mini-player will now pause videos when you hide it. When the mini player is visible again, it will now pick up from where you last left off. In addition to this new functionality, the company mentions it has given the mini player “a little refresh.”
The post doesn’t show what this redesign looks like, and we have yet to see any changes on our devices. However, beta users should know what’s coming. The PiP window drops the prominent bar that contains the forward, rewind, and pause buttons, making the window look a little sleeker. There’s now a pause button in the top left corner with a translucent background. In the opposite corner, you’ll find the X button that allows you to close the window. The forward and rewind buttons are no longer available.
When YouTube rolled out the current version of the mini player on mobile, it was heavily criticized by users. Unlike the old version that was stationary and appeared just above the bottom bar, this floating picture-in-picture (PiP) window takes up an entire corner of the screen. It’s also been described as distracting and glitchy, amid other issues. While this redesign doesn’t solve some of these problems, it does look a little better, especially without the bar taking up a good chunk of screen real estate.
