YouTube Music’s Split-View Now Playing Redesign Is Here — and It Changes How You Manage Your Queue

YouTube Music just made its biggest player overhaul in years. The split-view Now Playing redesign that YouTube Music has been working on since last year is now widely rolling out to users on Android and iOS. If you use the app daily, this update touches almost every part of the screen you stare at most. Read 10 Best YouTube to MP3 Converters that isn’t Sketch in 2025.

What the YouTube Music Now Playing Redesign Actually Changes

The bottom part of the Now Playing screen is now dedicated to your Up Next queue. That one shift alone reorganizes the entire layout.

The Song and Video switcher now uses icons instead of text labels, and the cover art is slightly larger than before. The visual feel is tighter and less cluttered.

The placement of the button carousel and main controls stays the same, but the progress bar switched from a thin line with a playhead to a thicker container. The bar becomes even thicker when you tap and scrub. It mirrors what the main YouTube app already does, and it feels more responsive under your thumb.

Where Did Lyrics and Related Go?

Lyrics functionality has moved into the carousel, placed right after the thumbs up/down pill. Related content is now accessed by tapping the song name.

This feels like a deliberate trade-off. Google pulled both tabs from the bottom row to reclaim that space for the queue. You still get access to both features — they just live in different spots now.

The Related and Lyrics sheets can be fully expanded, but they otherwise show the song you are currently listening to with play/pause controls at the top. These sheets are no longer color-themed. The stripped-back look matches what Google has been moving toward across its apps.

How the New Split-View Queue Works

This is the part most users will notice first. You can swipe anywhere in the player, including the very top, to slide it up halfway. That gesture opens the split-view state.

The redesign introduces a dual-pane design that lets you see cover art, controls, and what’s next in the same view. Swipe up again to get the previous fullscreen design.

So you get three levels: the standard player, the half-height split-view with the queue visible, and the full-screen queue. That layered navigation gives you more control without forcing you to leave playback entirely.

In the dual-pane view, the actions carousel disappears and you can see approximately four songs with the option to expand the queue. The dual-pane view closes automatically when you exit the Now Playing screen.

Have you ever wanted to check your queue mid-song without losing your place in the player? This redesign finally solves that in a way the old tab layout never did.

What About iOS Users?

The split-view Now Playing redesign is now rolling out to YouTube Music for Android version 9.14 and iOS version 9.15.

Both platforms get the same layout treatment. Both the Related and Lyrics sheets can now expand to full screen, and podcasts get the same redesign, keeping the interface consistent across content types.

Why Google Spent Over a Year Testing This

Google has been testing a suite of redesigns since late 2023, with three stated goals: modernize the visual language so the app feels consistent with the broader YouTube ecosystem, boost discoverability of the music video catalog, and improve how users navigate between audio and video modes.

That timeline matters. The A/B testing on this layout started in November, and multiple design variants were tested before Google landed on the current approach. The version that stuck puts Lyrics first in the carousel — an earlier variant buried it as the fourth item, which drew user complaints.

As of March 2025, YouTube counted approximately 125 million paid subscribers across its Music and Premium services, according to Statista. A player redesign at that scale affects a massive base of daily listeners. Getting it wrong is costly. That explains the extended testing window.

You can read more about how Google-backed Android features roll out through server-side updates in our coverage of Google’s Android app update strategy on Cloudorian.

How to Get the New Design Right Now

The update is server-side, which means you may not see it immediately even if your app is current. Dismissing the queue and force stopping the app can trigger the new look.

Follow these steps if the redesign has not appeared for you yet:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Go to Apps and find YouTube Music.
3. Tap Force Stop.
4. Reopen the app and play a song.
5. Pull up the Now Playing screen and check the bottom section for the queue handle.

If you still see the old three-tab layout after force stopping, the server-side rollout has not reached your account yet. Give it a few days.

Make sure you are on YouTube Music version 9.14 for Android or 9.15 for iOS before trying the steps above.

What This Redesign Gets Right (and One Thing Worth Watching)

The split-view queue is the strongest addition here. Managing what plays next used to require full-screen navigation. Now you do it with a single swipe without losing context of the current track.

The progress bar change is subtle but tactile. A scrubber that responds visually to your touch builds trust in the control. It sounds minor until you use it.

The one area worth watching is Lyrics discoverability. Moving it into the carousel makes it a second-level action for anyone who does not already know it’s there. Google is tracking engagement time on the Now Playing screen, frequency of video mode switches, and lyrics view usage as its key success metrics for this redesign. If lyrics usage drops because users cannot find the button, expect another adjustment.

Do you think putting Lyrics inside the carousel was the right call, or should it stay more visible?

What to Do After the Update Lands

Once you have the new layout, spend two minutes resetting your muscle memory. Pull up any song, swipe the player halfway, and browse your queue. Then swipe fully to see the old fullscreen queue view. Run through each gesture once so the transitions feel natural before your next commute or workout session.

The redesign rewards users who manage their queues actively. If you mostly hit play and walk away, the changes will feel cosmetic. But if you regularly skip tracks, check what’s coming, or switch between song and video modes, this update gives you a noticeably faster path to each of those actions.