YouTube search picks up horizontally scrollable channel uploads section in app

YouTube seems to have revamped the channel search experience on its mobile app. I recently noticed a big change when searching for channels on both the iOS and Android YouTube apps. Typically, when searching for a channel, you’ll see the username and profile picture appear. Clicking on the channel then takes you to the channel’s page where you could see the video uploads. However, now when you search for a channel, you’ll see a dedicated section for the channel along with a horizontally scrollable list of recently uploaded videos.

Here’s a screen recording of the new UI for reference:

The background color of this dedicated section is also extracted from the profile picture of the channel which makes it look pretty sleek and stands out from the rest of the search results. But I noticed that it’s not consistent and even depends on whether you’re in dark mode or light mode. That said, here’s a screenshot that shows the background color from a different channel:

For comparison, here’s how the search results used to look before this new update. Just note that the screenshot was taken on the web version of YouTube on a mobile, but the UI for the search results was pretty much the same:

As you can see, the older version was much simpler. It just showed the channel name, subscriber count, and description, sometimes with a subscribe button. You absolutely had to tap through to the channel page itself if you wanted to see any of the actual video content.

This new layout is a significant improvement in my opinion. It puts the channel’s latest content front and center right within the search results. You can quickly scroll through the most recent uploads horizontally without needing to leave the search page. This saves a couple of taps and makes it much faster to check if a channel you’re looking for has posted something new, or even to get a quick preview of the kind of content they make.

This change appears to be rolling out steadily across both Android and iOS platforms. Like most updates from YouTube, it might take some time to appear for everyone, so don’t worry if you’re not seeing it just yet. Keep your app updated, and it should arrive eventually.

It’s a small change, but one that definitely streamlines the process of finding and viewing content from specific channels on the go. Let me know if you’re seeing this new UI or not.