Search is YouTube Music's newest bottom bar resident
YouTube is back at it. Soon after rolling out the Now Playing redesign for the YouTube Music app, the platform is back with another change that honestly could have just been slotted in with the Now Playing redesign.
The latest change is now starting to appear for some users on version 9.21 on Android.
For reference, YouTube Music's current bottom bar implementation highlights icons for Home, Samples, Explore, and Library. Google is changing that.
The streaming giant is replacing the Explore icon with the app's 'Search' button, as pointed out by the folks over at 9to5Google .
9to5Google
As seen in the screenshots above, the search icon was previously located on the app's top-right corner. That spot is now only occupied by the profile icon.
I'd argue that the change boosts one-handed usage, but it doesn't always do that. That's because after you tap the now-bottom-located search icon and type in your request, you'll still need to reach higher on the screen to tap on the result. The same goes for autofill suggestions and scenarios where you tap out of the keyboard.
And even though Explore's dedicated icon is no longer visible, it retains its position in the bottom bar. That's because once you tap the search icon and look past your recent search history, you'll see dedicated explore chips for New releases, Charts, Moods & genres, and Podcasts.
The change is now starting to appear on YouTube Music version 9.21 on Android and version 9.22 on iOS. For what it's worth, I'm not seeing the change live on either, suggesting that the search icon relocation is being rolled out in phases. Alternatively, it could just be a Canadian thing. UI changes, for some reason, seem to land here a little later than in the US.
Has the change been rolled out to you? Let us know in the comments below!
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