YouTube Music Is Stealing A Much-Needed Design Change From Spotify

YouTube looks to be gearing up for a major design change on Android — at least in its Spotify competitor, YouTube Music. The change is relatively minor, but it's a nice quality-of-life feature that should be a welcome sight for most YouTube Music users.

Previously, YouTube Music required users to tap on a search icon — a little magnifying glass — located near the top of the app window in order to search for music. This wasn't difficult by any means, but for such an important button, it was a bit out of the way, especially for users sporting a larger device, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra or the Pixel 10 Pro XL.

Now, though, 9to5Google reports that some users have discovered they are able to operate the app's search functionality using a new Search icon right in the middle of the main toolbar at the bottom of the app. That's basically the same spot you'll find the Search tab in the Spotify app, but that isn't a bad thing, as you should now be able to reach it while using your phone with one hand.

This feature isn't widely available yet, and there's no official word from Google and YouTube about whether it intends to launch it wide or not. For now, it seems only some users have been given access to the design update, though based on what we've seen so far from the screenshots shared by 9to5Google, it does look like it could make searching for new music just a little easier.

Instead of requiring you to tap on the search icon at the top, the new design lets you search for new songs while also looking at the Explore page all in one go. The Explore icon, which looked like a compass, has now been replaced with a little magnifying glass, and when tapped on, it opens up the Explore page with a search bar at the top. Previously, these two pages were separated, which made it a bit more difficult to engage with the different content that YouTube was pushing while also letting you easily search for others artists and songs.

It's unclear when or if this update will roll out to more users. YouTube Music hasn't always been the most welcoming app, and back when it first released, it was hard to justify using it over something more established like Spotify or even Apple Music. Now, though, with YouTube Premium offering access to ad-free content, and YouTube Music now featuring podcasts, too, it's come a long way.