YouTube is rolling out a handful of changes to the video page in the iOS and Android apps that shrinks the comments section and enlarges video thumbnails.
Instead of scrolling to the bottom, comments are now viewable directly under the video, in a minimised view. By default, this displays one top or popular comment but tapping it expands this to the full view as before. The move could also help reduce spam and negative comments, as this section remains more hidden, but YouTube says that “more people are writing comments with the new design”.
Larger, near-full-width video thumbnails are shown under this, with the video title and channel number under a thumbnail. These changes are now rolling out to most users on the latest version of the app.
However, the change has caused backlash from hundreds of users of social media, with one on Twitter saying that the “new layout on mobile is horrible” and “the recommended videos are too big and the comments should stay where they were”. It could result in YouTube reversing the change, but at the time of writing, they haven’t addressed negative feedback.
