YouTube is rolling out a set of player updates to YouTube Shorts, including the removal of the dislike button, a new distraction-free viewing mode, and playback speed controls, the company announced in a blog post.

The changes replace the thumbs-up icon with a heart icon, while YouTube is retiring the dislike button in favor of two existing controls: “Not Interested” and “Don’t recommend this channel.” The company said the more granular options better reflect viewer preferences because disliking a video “could mean anything from ‘poor audio quality’ to simply ‘not my cup of tea.'”

A new “Clear Screen” mode will temporarily hide all on-screen icons and text during playback, providing an unobstructed view of content. YouTube also introduced 2x playback speed for Shorts, which the company described as one of the most requested features from the Shorts community. Viewers can now mute audio by tapping to pause and then selecting the mute icon, and can set the Shorts timer, including to zero.

Distribution data also shows Shorts claiming a larger share of YouTube’s homepage. Separately, an analysis of more than 500 channels by YouTube consultant Marcus Jones found that homepage placement for long-form videos has narrowed from two rows of five videos in 2024 to one row of two to three today, with Shorts occupying most remaining screen space.

YouTube said the player updates will roll out over time.

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