YouTube Tests a Heart Icon for Shorts as Dislike Button Moves Out of Sight

YouTube is quietly testing another change to Shorts that could annoy longtime users. Reports gathered on Reddit say some viewers now see the familiar like button replaced with a heart icon, while others have found the dislike button removed from the main action bar.

The experiment appears across Android, iPhone, and YouTube’s web version, suggesting a relatively broad rollout. Functionally, the heart still performs the same action as the old thumbs-up icon, but the new look makes Shorts resemble TikTok and Instagram Reels more closely. In some cases, users say the dislike option has been moved into the three-dot menu instead of appearing next to the video.

YouTube has not announced the change publicly, and it is not mentioned on the company’s official experiments page. One Reddit user also posted a short video showing the new interface, where the heart icon appeared above a regular dislike button, indicating not all users are seeing the same version of the test.

Reaction online has been lukewarm, with many asking why the company felt the need to replace a familiar symbol. The test fits a longer shift that began in 2021, when YouTube removed public dislike counts but kept the dislike button itself. If this trial becomes permanent, YouTube would move even closer to the standard used by TikTok and Instagram, where the vertical video feed uses a heart and does not show a visible dislike button.