The YouTube Music app in 2023

In 2023, YouTube Music changed much of the basic user interface that many of you use every day. It started in January with a renewed library in Android, iOS operating systems and in the online version online in January. Libraries thus got a network view. Just like the playlists, the album pages have also been updated.

Meanwhile, YTM started the year with a revamp of the “Now Playing” feature, which notably affected which album, playlist, etc. "Playing from...". A new look was introduced in September, which primarily includes a carousel of quick actions, including the ability to browse and leave comments on YouTube. YTM thus acts as an undemanding social network, mainly because public listening statistics are also available in the profiles.

The player itself has recently been updated with a gradient background that makes the player much more colorful. One of the latest updates also saw the implementation of live texts, which looks nice and kind of puts YTM on par with competing services.

Another big change concerns the mini player, which now cannot be removed when nothing is playing. (Thankfully, an option to reject the queue has been added.) This allows users to swipe left/right to move to the next/last track. Also worth noting is that the play/pause button has been moved slightly – a minor blow to muscle memory.

The year 2023 brought many changes also for the web version of the application, which is inspired by the "main" YouTube. Meanwhile, the Wear OS app finally lets you browse albums and playlists. HomePod support has also started working.

The year of podcasts

In order to remain competitive in this area, YouTube Music invested a lot of time and money in podcasts in 2023. The rollout began in April this year in the US and is now rolling out worldwide. Regardless, YTM is no match for some apps that have been in the podcast space for a long time. However, one of the improvements is the automatic uploading and manual addition of content via RSS, the most annoying is the lack of the "mark as played" function (which is officially coming) and notifications about new episodes. One of the novelties, and at the same time an advantage for music listeners, is that YTM finally got a sleep timer.

As for the actual music, "Create Radio" remains a nice tool, while users also use the "Covers and Remixes" section a lot. A big innovation in this area was the “Samples” channel for better browsing of the application's many libraries.

A look into the future

I expect more generative AI in the YouTube Music app in the future, especially in the music discovery phase. In terms of interface and experience, YouTube Music seems to be struggling with an overcrowded menu. However, it also seems that "Speed dial" will replace "Listen again" on the home screen. Many media also wrote that YTM is planning several applications, including for Apple TV and Garmin.