YouTube on Mobile gets animated Likes effect

We haven’t heard so much from YouTube for a while now (unlike Twitter which has been making too much noise, from new features to Elon finally acquiring the company), but here it goes: the video-sharing platform is giving us a treat today: a colorful Like button.

It is really not the biggest news to expect from the platform but clicking the new Like button gives you that festive feeling with the animated firework-like effects it will create every time you try it. It will change color, turn to red, and enlarge while making a jumping movement as if celebrating receiving another approval from a user.

YouTube added a like animation on mine
byu/LanDest021 inyoutube

On the other hand, while the button effect looks new for most of us, a video on the /r/YouTube subreddit shows that the feature was already available on the platform two months earlier. And while many like the new animation, some express their frustration over it. “I just got this myself and I hate it so much, I never felt this disgusted from hitting the like button,” comments one Reddit user. “But I noticed there’s no animation when hitting it in fullscreen mode so I guess that’s what I’m gonna do from now on.”

Others complain about how long the animation is, resulting in an inconvenient experience on the platform. “I dislike it simply because the animation is too long,” expresses another Reddit user. “For example, when you like a tweet on Twitter the heart button does a quick pop animation. It should be more like that.”

Apparently, this won’t be applicable to the Dislike button, which disappointed many of us after it lost its counter capability. It still takes your uncountable disapproval of the videos in the place without any effects. Nonetheless, using it now will give you a “Learn more” notification with a link to the creator updates page that details the YouTube changes and updates. 

Meanwhile, it is important to note that the new colorful effect of the Like button is only limited to Android and iOS devices. For those who love watching videos on YouTube desktop, the site will still have the plain Like and Dislike button for users. There are still no announcements or further updates if this will also be applied to the desktop version of YouTube. Also, it is still unclear if the effect will stay on YouTube forever or if there is an option to turn it off.