YouTube Music is rolling out a redesigned Now Playing interface for its Android and iOS apps, changing the layout and organization of playback controls.
The new design, which began testing in November, is now becoming available to more users.
A reorganized layout for key controls in YouTube Music
The most significant change is the consolidation of controls into a compact carousel below the song and artist information. This carousel moves the primary actions higher on the screen for easier access. The Cast button remains in the top-right corner.
The new carousel contains the following controls:
- Thumbs up/down
- Comments
- Save
- Lyrics
- Song/Video switcher
- Share
- Download
- Radio
This redesign removes the previous bottom row of tabs. Additionally, the song scrubber has a new look; the playhead is now a boxy shape and the scrubber bar becomes thicker when you interact with it.
YouTube Music just dropped a new UI update… pic.twitter.com/lgCxfblYBH
— Tushar (@TushaRS1ngh) September 12, 2025
Easier access to your song queue
The “Up Next” section now includes a prominent drag handle, allowing you to pull up the current playlist or radio queue. Tapping the handle also opens a dual-pane view that displays the upcoming songs alongside the main player.
This temporary view shows about four songs initially but can be expanded to show the full queue. The actions carousel is hidden when this view is active.
Updates to Lyrics and Related tabs
The Lyrics and Related tabs have also been updated. When opened, they now feature the current song title and play/pause controls in the top row, and these sheets can be fully expanded.
The previous theming has been removed from these sections. The design for podcast controls has been updated to match these changes.
How to get the new YouTube Music interface
The redesigned YouTube Music Now Playing screen is being distributed through a server-side update. If the new interface does not appear, force-stopping the app from your device’s settings or removing it from the multitasking menu may trigger the update.
