YouTube Music rolling out Now Playing gradient redesign [U]

YouTube Music rolled out a Now Playing redesign that placed key controls in a carousel and made other UI tweaks in September, and it is now getting a gradient background.

Update 12/12: YouTube Music’s gradient Now Playing background is now widely rolling out on Android phones and tablets (version 6.29.57), though the change is minor on the latter form factor. You can try using “Force stop” on YouTube Music via Android’s Settings app if it’s not yet live on your device, while we’re not seeing this on iOS today.

Everything in the player is now darker and flatter. You can still swipe up from the bottom (area) to quickly access the queue, but the lack of a sheet/pull tab indicator makes the gesture a bit harder. (The previous/current design on iOS lets you swipe up from anywhere in the player.) As such, tapping is the more guaranteed action.

Original 10/29: Today, Now Playing selects a solid color — derived from the album artwork — for the background. YouTube Music is testing a gradient that has more color at the top and fades to something rather dark at the bottom.

The color extraction Google uses here has always favored more muted shades to not clash with the art, so the new approach does not feel drastically different. However, the new background is still darker than before.

Meanwhile, the white buttons for play/pause, next/back, shuffle, and repeat stand out more against the new background.

Up Next, Lyrics, and Related are no longer housed in a sheet and now just float as gray text. The buttons look out of place without a container. You can still swipe up from the bottom to easily open the queue instead of having to tap, though YTM has removed the pull tab indicator.

There are currently several reports about this gradient Now Playing design in YouTube Music for Android, but it’s not widely rolled out yet.

More on YouTube Music:

• YouTube Music will let you make custom playlist art with gen AI, adding ‘Speed dial’
• YouTube Music rolls out Apple HomePod support
• YouTube Music tests redesign of overflowing overflow menu
• YouTube Music rolls out auto-downloads for podcasts