YouTube’s Like button is replaced by a heart, but not everywhere

The like button on most apps and platforms is synonymous with the heart. Instagram, X, and TikTok all feature hearts, and now YouTube does too – well, sort of. As part of a limited test rolling out to users, the ubiquitous thumbs-up button has been replaced with a heart on YouTube Shorts. While it may not seem like a big deal, the change also comes with the removal of the Dislike button in some cases. In 2021, YouTube announced that the dislike counter would disappear, but said at the time that the associated button would remain. The UI update currently in testing now removes it entirely for some users.

Judging by reports, YouTube has been testing the change for about a month. But a series of recent updates from Reddit users indicate that it’s now happening much more widely, as more people experience it. While the change will make YouTube Shorts work more like other social media platforms across its Android, iOS, and web apps, there has been no official announcement about it. The new Like button is not mentioned in the YouTube forum thread where the company shares updates on its latest testing features and experiments, nor does it appear on the YouTube Labs page where Premium users can choose to try new features as they are developed (one of many YouTube Premium features you could use).

On the plus side, the pop-up animations that appear when you tap or interact with YouTube’s Like button have become more whimsical and fun, in line with Google’s Material 3 Expressive design movement in recent months. You may see the button transform into various icons like a dog paw, a light bulb, or unique shapes. Like the other changes, this has been happening for a few select users for a while, but is now more common.

Even though more users have recently reported the new Like button behavior, BGR has been unable to reproduce it across multiple YouTube accounts. Our testing covered both Premium and Free subscriptions, and we checked various platforms and devices, including Android, iOS, and the web, but only found the usual thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons.

Since YouTube hasn’t announced the change, it’s still unclear whether this is still a limited test or the first stages of a phased rollout. YouTube may just be trying out the new design, slowly opening access to more people to gauge interest and sentiment, rather than intending to roll out the new icons permanently. Regardless, our testing suggests that the new UI has yet to reach any of its wider rollout stages.

So far, no one has experienced these changes with regular YouTube videos on mobile or desktop. The new Like button seems to only appear on YouTube Shorts, the short, social-style videos you can watch as quick snippets. YouTube removed Stories instead of Shorts in 2023. The new format is designed from the ground up for mobile experiences and vertical (portrait) orientation. YouTube is slowly integrating this new format onto other platforms: your Google TV is about to look very different, for example, because it shows “snackable” videos, or Shorts, on the home screen.