YouTube tests an optimized landscape layout on Android

YouTube is one of them Best Android Apps There most of us are addicted to it and spend a lot of money every month YouTube Premium subscription. There’s plenty of room for improvement, though, one of which is how the app works on wider aspect ratios, such as on landscape phones and large-screen foldables and tablets. Google seems to have turned its attention to this View experience, as we’ve spotted some changes that are a noticeable improvement over what we currently have in the YouTube app on Android.

Currently, YouTube is well optimized for: Android flagship Portrait. However, when you use the YouTube app in landscape orientation or on large-screen foldables and tablets, you’ll see a landscape layout that only rotates the portrait layout. This is a lazy way to build a landscape-oriented experience, and is only a step away from disabling the landscape experience entirely.

Here’s how YouTube currently looks on landscape and foldable devices:

As you can see in the current layout, channel updates appear on the top row and your feed appears below it. It looks crowded and busy because all the UI elements seem to be fighting for space on the vertical Y-axis, while white space is wasted on the horizontal X-axis.

Here is a video demonstration of the YouTube app:

As you can see, you have to select a channel from the top updates bar to view its activity. Notice how the video listing takes up the entire screen with very large thumbnails.

With YouTube app v19.50.36, Google is testing some UI changes to optimize the landscape experience on phones, large-screen foldables, and tablets. We spotted the changes coming to foldable devices, and here’s what the optimized layout will look like in the future:

As you can see, the feeds are better spaced in the upcoming layout. Channel updates are in the left navigation, and videos are in the second column. This also fixes thumbnail size, significantly reduces wasted white space, and makes the UI easier to navigate and scroll.

Moving channel updates to the left navigation will also clean up the channel updates view. Google further reduces wasted white space by adopting a two-column layout, although this may depend on the width of the device.

Here’s a video demo showing the layout change for the Subscriptions tab:

The whole experience feels noticeably better in landscape orientation, with more information displayed on the screen. It no longer looks like an afterthought to the portrait experience. Even if you’re using a traditional Android phone, this optimized layout is good enough that it doesn’t force you to switch between vertical scrolling for the Subscriptions tab and horizontal scrolling for the full-screen video player. You can actually use the YouTube app in fixed landscape orientation and have a good experience.

This optimized landscape layout for YouTube appears to be in testing. Some users may be participating in this test, but we’ve yet to see signs of a wider rollout. We will keep you updated as we learn more.