YouTube Gets a New Look and Bunch of New Features

YouTube is having a day. The popular video streaming service is getting several new features in addition to a new look while you are watching videos that adds a really cool effect.

Google announced the improvements in a blog post today, saying that YouTube’s latest makeover offers a “more modern and immersive viewing experience while improving how users watch videos.”

The first big change can be seen above (right) and it is dynamic color sampling in a new ambient mode. Basically, when you are watching a video in the dark theme, splashes of color are pulled from the video into the app’s UI to create a neat effect. It’s sort of like how you’d watch a movie at home with the lights low and the colors from your TV reflect throughout surfaces.

And speaking of the dark theme, Google has updated the YouTube dark theme to be even darker.

In the playlist department, YouTube is getting similar visual improvements (below), where a playlist will show you more colors and more details. In the example here, you can see the top video taking on a cover design with bigger buttons and a more visually appealing overall look.

As for other changes, here is what else you can soon expect:

• Watch pages: Video watch pages will be “easier on the eyes” with YouTube links in descriptions becoming buttons.  The action buttons (like share and download) are also getting formatted to minimize distractions.
• Subscribe button: A new shape and high contrast to the Subscribe button should make it easier to find on both watch and channel pages.
• Pinch-to-zoom: Yes, pinch-to-zoom is here starting today! This is available on iOS and Android phones. Pinching-in zooms and stays zoomed even if you let go.
• Precise seeking: This one seems really big for those of us who constantly rewind tips and tricks-style videos. You can now swipe up or drag up to see a more detailed seeking experience (see below).

Again, all of this stuff is supposed to start rolling out today on all platforms. Be on the lookout for updates to your devices and feel free to start testing some of these changes on desktop.