YouTube recently tested a new miniplayer for its mobile app. The new design showed videos in a small, movable window when minimized. However, users didn’t like it. They reported bugs, glitches, and found the new design distracting. Many said they preferred the old, classic miniplayer.
Google seems to have listened. Some users now see the classic miniplayer back in the app. The classic design has simple controls for play, pause, and closing the video.
TechIssuesToday noticed this change, and users on Reddit and X confirmed it. Updating the app to version 19.45.36 brings back the old miniplayer for some. However, it’s not available to everyone yet. This could be a server-side update, as Google has not officially announced the change.
The new miniplayer allowed resizing and moving the video to any screen corner. While it sounded good in theory, it didn’t work well in practice. Users reported missing controls and glitchy performance.
Google is also testing other changes. For example, swiping on a video in full-screen mode might skip to the next video instead of exiting full-screen. This feature is still in limited testing.
For now, it seems Google is focused on bringing back the classic miniplayer, which many users are happy about.