YouTube video player gets a makeover on Android and iOS

YouTube is rolling out a new interface for its mobile app’s full-screen player, which should make it easier to like or dislike a video (in private, of course), view comments, and share what you look. The old version hid most of these features behind a swipe gesture in the “more videos” section, where the new version brings them to the forefront, relegating related videos to a button in the corner.

The change only appears when watching in full screen – the app looks largely the same when watching a video in portrait mode. However, it had the advantage of having easy access to the share button and other controls. Now you also get this when viewing in landscape mode.

You can also easily access the mode which allows you to see the comments alongside the video in landscape mode. Before the new UI, you had to tap on the comments section in portrait mode to open it and then switch to full screen mode. Now you can view them by pressing the comment button.

The new UI is coming to both iOS and Android, and began rolling out on Monday, according to Google spokeswoman Allison Toh. So far it doesn’t seem to have reached everyone, but several people (including one on The edge staff) reported having the new design.