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What Is Going On With YouTube TV’s Library Section?

John Finn Avatar
YouTube TV Library old vs new

If you are a YouTube TV subscriber then you may have noticed a change to the Library section. In fact, while some have only noticed one Library change recently, others have had to put up with as many as three recent changes, and the most recent still might not be the final one.

Earlier this year, YouTube TV announced updates to the app interface that included a complete redesign of the Library section. This update resulted in the Library switching from a left-side vertical menu to a horizontal top menu. It also resulted in the removal of the New in your library filter.

Not everyone was happy with this change and it seemed as though YouTube TV had listened to those complaints. Earlier this month, YouTube TV began rolling out another Library update that added the New in your library filter back. Technically, this was a rolling back of the old design, albeit with a few minor cosmetic changes.

For those that disliked the newer (top menu) design, the rolling back of the old look and layout was a popular move.

The problem, however, is that some of those same users have recently reported receiving yet another update. To their dismay, the latest version brings back the new (top menu) Library once again.

Many different YouTube TV libraries in circulation

Making all of this all the more confusing is that there doesn’t seem to be any consistency in the rolling out of updates to the Library section at the moment.

To give you some examples of how random things seem right now, there are some subscribers who have never received the first update (the top menu). At the same time, there are those that have been updated to the new version, rolled back to the old version, and then updated to to the new version again.

This is also all in addition to those subscribers that have just been updated to the new design once and/or rolled back to the old version.

There are a few Reddit threads doing the rounds at the moment, including this one and this one, which are good examples of just how varied the Library design seems to be right now among YouTube TV subscribers.

YouTube, in general, is a company that’s known to often A/B test changes, so while it isn’t uncommon for some users to encounter one design while others see a different version, this does seem to be a little different.

From what we can tell, there does seem to be more user reports of the constant switching between Library designs coming from Roku device owners. If that is the case, then it is possible that YouTube TV (or Roku) has identified an issue which has led to the constant updates and changes.

However, and even though the majority of the user reports we’ve seen seem to relate to Roku devices, this isn’t just a problem with Roku devices. Other users have reported the same constant switching of designs on other platforms and devices, including Fire TV devices.

It also currently remains unclear which Library design will ultimately win out in the end. Will YouTube TV continue to refine and roll out the new design, or just look to make some subtle adjustments to the old design and roll that back out again to all users?

At the moment, your guess is as good as ours.

John Finn

Comments

2 responses

  1. I have a Roku TV. If I’m signed in under my account, I get the vertical (left side) library navigation. if I switch users to my wife’s account, it will show the horizontal navigation instead. So even on the same exact device, it seems to be related to specific accounts.

  2. Disappointed in Wisconsin Avatar
    Disappointed in Wisconsin

    Can we get the previous library layout back? This is update is awful.

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