Key Takeaways

  • In October this year, Google rolled out a new miniplayer UI for YouTube for Android.
  • The new miniplayer is now being pushed to the YouTube TV app for Android.
  • Many users are not fond of the new miniplayer, finding it too distracting and buggy.



Google rolled out a revamped miniplayer in the YouTube app on Android earlier this year with picture-in-picture support, followed by a wider release in late October. The revamped miniplayer is much more customizable, allowing you to resize it or move the PiP window to any corner of the screen. In contrast, the previous version was restricted to only docking at the display’s bottom. Google is now pushing the same miniplayer UI to the YouTube TV app for Android.

YouTube TV Ready to Cast on TV

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As on the YouTube app, minimizing a video puts it into a picture-in-picture window, with buttons to jump forward or rewind by 15 seconds. There’s also a play/pause button and a button to expand the PiP window.



9to5Google reports that the new miniplayer interface is rolling out as part of YouTube TV for Android v8.47.0. There could also be a server-side element to this feature’s release, so you might not get the new PiP interface even after updating to the latest build.

A GIF showing the YouTube miniplayer moving around within the app on Android.

The new miniplayer in action in the YouTube app for Android

The new miniplayer UI comes to the YouTube TV app for Android a couple of months after Google rolled out background playback to the service, enabling you to listen to your favorite shows in the background while chatting with your friends or family.


YouTube users are not fond of the new miniplayer design

A YouTube video playing on the Pixel 9 Pro.



Interestingly, the new miniplayer is going live on YouTube TV for Android despite reports of Google pulling the plug on the miniplayer experiment in the YouTube app following negative user feedback. Many users found it distracting and buggy and reported performance issues. The controls on the PiP also seem to randomly disappear, frustrating users.

This was the first major change Google rolled out to YouTube’s miniplayer on mobile since 2018. Despite the bugs, I like the new miniplayer, and it feels like a nice upgrade, especially since you can resize and move the window around.

Google pushing the new miniplayer on the YouTube TV app for Android hints that it is not ready to give up on its efforts yet. It might seek additional feedback from YouTube TV users, fix all the lingering bugs, and then widely release the new miniplayer again.