Last night, some Android users began receiving a major update to their YouTube app that brought with it a refreshed UI, multitasking and quite a bit more. Now Google has come forward and made the update nice and official on its YouTube blog. Just as we noted last night, the updated YouTube app includes the ability to minimize the currently-playing video and browse around the app while the clip continues to play. Swiping up will return the video to its normal size, while swiping left or right will dismiss it.
Google's new-look YouTube app also allows users to search and browse channels for playlists on mobile devices, enabling them to watch easily watch a list videos back-to-back. Google also says that the Android and iOS YouTube apps are gaining a preview screen when casting a video to a connected device, complete with options to play a new clip or queue it up. Finally, the YouTube apps are getting a makeover that Google describes as a "cleaner, simpler look."
As I noted yesterday, this new YouTube app looks like a pretty significant upgrade, bringing with it major new functionality as well as a much-improved design. The ability to minimize a playing video while browsing through the rest of the app looks to be one of the biggest new features and should please folks that like to explore YouTube's library and watch multiple videos in a row. A quick video about this new YouTube app update is available below, and Android and iOS device owners can grab their respective YouTube apps here and here.
Via Official YouTube Blog, YouTube app: Android, iOS
