Google likes to play around with YouTube like a person who can’t stop scratching an itch. Unlike the changes made to Google Maps, which are actually useful, some of the changes made to YouTube seem to be made for no real reason. Recently, the web version of the video stream moved from square corners to rounded corners on the thumbnails and video player, and the response from YouTube users was not exactly favorable.
Now, YouTube appears to be making the same change to videos in the YouTube app for Android. According to Android police, obtained a screenshot showing rounded corners on YouTube thumbnails. The result is a more blinding white background light that may lead some users to turn on the dark theme. On Android, open the YouTube app and tap your profile picture in the upper right corner. Next, tap on Settings > General > Appearance. A popup window will ask you to choose from your device theme, light or dark theme. Choose.
The current look of the YouTube app for Android is on the left; thumbnails of the new look can be seen on the right
Since the rounded corners extend to the video player on the web and not just the thumbnails, we can assume that this will be the case for the Android app as well. Right now, the new skin hasn’t been pushed to many Android devices, and it hasn’t yet appeared on my Pixel 6 Pro running Android 14 Beta 5.3.
Rounded corners do not appear on YouTube when watching a video in full screen or Theater mode. But as soon as you go back to the default view, it comes back. Right now, we don’t know exactly when Google plans to roll out this extension to Android users, and whether the rounded corners will follow in the YouTube iOS app as well.
If you don’t have the YouTube app on your Android phone, you can download it now from the Google Play Store by clicking this link. If you want to install YouTube on your iOS device, click this link.
