YouTube Shorts player adds clear screen mode and playback speed controls

What this means for creators

Viewer engagement signals are shifting from dislike counts to "Not Interested" and channel-level feedback. Creators can no longer see dislike metrics, and the heart icon replaces thumbs-up as the primary positive signal.

Clear Screen mode temporarily hides all icons and text from the Shorts playback view to provide a distraction-free viewing experience.

Creators and viewers can now double the playback speed on Shorts, and viewers can mute audio by pausing and tapping the mute icon. Viewers can also set a Shorts timer, including to zero.

The dislike button is being retired. In its place, viewers will use "Not Interested" and "Don't recommend this channel" to shape their feed. The thumbs-up icon is being replaced with a heart icon to express when a video connects with a viewer.