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Here's a sneak peek at YouTube's new look for Android

androidpit youtube app
© nextpit

Android users are reporting a YouTube update which overhauls the app's design and suggests that the old 'hamburger menu' could be on its way out.

androidpit youtube app
Old navigation drawer/hamburger menu (left) vs. new design (right). Which do you prefer? / © ANDROIDPIT

The new design shows all the main YouTube shortcuts - Home, Trending, Subscriptions, and Profile - running along the top of the app, rather than being swiped in from the left or accessed using the three horizontal lines at the top-left of the screen (endearingly known as 'the hamburger menu').

Android users who spotted the redesign reported it to Android Police. It arrived without any warning or notification, suggesting that Google is only testing the new look at this point. The new look does, however, seem to be along similar lines to the Google+ app, which ditched the 'hamburger menu' in 2014. 

Is this a sign that the hamburger menu is on its way out? The swipe-in navigation drawer (as it's more formally known), is still a defining feature of apps like Gmail, Google Drive and the Play Store. Some have complained that such a design makes it easy to forget the features that are available to you in the app, and mean that you're never just 'a tap away' from those features.

On the other hand, the navigation drawer means you're just an intuitive swipe away from not just a few, but most of the app's other features, and means that you have more screen space when you're not using the navigation drawer.

What do you think? Do you like swiping in to access key features in an app? Or do you want them displayed for you at all times? Let us know.

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Robert Zak

Robert Zak
UK Editor

A tech aficionado since he first picked up a NES controller, Robert has written about technology, videogames, and film across a range of sites and magazines, including Den of Geek, Gamasutra, and Computeractive. At AndroidPIT, he'll be bringing you the latest Android news and reviews from the front line in the UK.

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7 comments
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  • 32
    Deactivated Account Mar 18, 2015 Link to comment

    I don't like the new Red colour.. it's kind of irritating


  • 6
    Jeff Garland Mar 16, 2015 Link to comment

    I like the hamburger drawer personally, I just find it more convenient, possibly because the majority of apps use the same feature and I'm used to it. I say keep it.


  • Madars G 10
    Madars G Mar 16, 2015 Link to comment

    ios has the best youtube design


  • Rogue Tomato 15
    Rogue Tomato Mar 16, 2015 Link to comment

    "Sneak peak" was probably more appropriate for VaselineThailand.

    Moni Mihailov


  • 8
    Chris M. Mar 16, 2015 Link to comment

    Run for cover! The Spelling Fascists are beating at the door! They claim that you seem to be offering, not an untrustworthy mountain ('sneak peak'), but a surruptitious little look ('sneak peek') re YouTube. Is this so?

    Bojan M.Moni Mihailov


    • Robert Zak 8
      Robert Zak Mar 16, 2015 Link to comment

      As a Spelling Fascist myself, I appreciate the correction, and also hang my head in shame for letting down the ideology.

      While we're at it - 'surreptitious' ;)

      Bojan M.Moni Mihailov


      • 8
        Chris M. Mar 17, 2015 Link to comment

        Blast! Now I'll have to swallow my cyanide pill.
        Unmasked by inline spelling correction with a poor vocabulary.

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