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YouTube Music is experimenting with a bold new look for its Now Playing screen. The streaming service is testing fullscreen cover art that fills the entire display – including the status and navigation bars – moving away from the current rounded-corner square artwork.
What’s Changing?
Currently, cover art appears as a square with rounded corners between the audio/video switcher and song title. The new design stretches the artwork edge-to-edge, making it the centerpiece of the screen. This fullscreen approach means significant cropping, as seen in early tests, but it aligns with the portrait-first, Shorts-style video trend that users are already comfortable with.
What’s Dropping?
The redesign also does away with artwork-based color theming for this screen. The pill-shaped buttons in the actions carousel now have transparent backgrounds, giving the interface a cleaner, more minimal feel.
A Nod to the Past
Interestingly, the new design feels reminiscent of Google Play Music’s Now Playing interface – a nostalgic touch for long-time Google streaming users.
Rollout Status
The feature is still in testing and not yet available to the wider public. It’s unclear when or if YouTube Music will roll it out globally, but it’s a clear sign that the platform continues to experiment with visual presentation.
This new update, with videos looks even better
by u/Financial-Phrase-275 in YoutubeMusic
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