Overview
- YouTube began a staged rollout in late June of a redesigned Shorts player that is appearing for many users worldwide but may be staggered by region.
- Viewers can now tap-and-hold to play Shorts at double speed and swipe down to lock 2x, enable a Clear Screen mode to hide on-screen overlays, and use an in-player mute that appears after pausing.
- The dislike button has been removed from the Shorts player and replaced by targeted controls inside the three-dot menu — 'Not interested' and 'Don’t recommend this channel' — while the thumbs-up is shown as a heart that functions the same.
- Google will stop collecting new dislike counts for Shorts at the end of June while preserving historic dislike totals in YouTube Studio, a change that shifts what feedback data creators can use to judge performance.
- By copying features from TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube is changing the signals its recommendation system receives, so creators should focus more on likes, watch retention and swipe-away behavior as measures of success.