YouTube has begun testing a heart-shaped like button on its Shorts format, replacing the traditional thumbs-up icon, and in some cases removing the dislike button entirely, according to user reports and independent testing by BGR. The trial, which started roughly a month ago, appears to be limited to Shorts and has not been extended to standard YouTube videos. While YouTube has not issued an official statement, the visual overhaul is being interpreted as part of a broader effort to make interactions feel more playful and align Shorts with the reaction conventions of rivals like Instagram and TikTok.

A month-long trial with a missing dislike button

According to reports on Reddit and community forums, the test has expanded beyond a handful of testers; more users are seeing the heart icon when they tap the like control on Shorts, whether on Android, iOS, or the web version of the service. Independent testing by BGR attempted to verify the new UI across multiple accounts, including both paid Premium subscriptions and free users, and across multiple devices and operating systems.. The testers consistently saw the traditional thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons on regular video pages, and only a minority of accounts displayed the heart on Shorts. this suggests that the experiment is still in a controlled phase, perhaps a pre-launch validation before a wider rollout.

Why YouTube is borrowing Instagram's heart — and leaving the thumbs behind

The shift from a thumbs-up to a heart icon on Shorts is not merely cosmetic. As the source reports, when users press the new heart, a series of animated transformations can occur, turning the icon into a dog paw , a light bulb, or other whimsical shapes. These micro-animations are consistent with recent design tweaks across Google's suite of products, where subtle motion is used to reward engagement. more significantly, the heart icon aligns Shorts with the interaction language of other social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, and X, all of which rely heavily on heart-shaped reactions. By making Shorts feel more like a typical social feed, YouTube may be trying to capture the attention of creators and viewers who spend most of their time on those platforms. The source notes that no evidence has emerged that the heart icon or the removal of the dislike button is being applied to standard YouTube videos; at present, the change appears confined to the Shorts player, which was introduced in 2023.

The missing official statement on Shorts' reaction overhaul

Despite the growing number of anecdotes, YouTube has not issued an official statement, and the change is not reflected in the platform's help pages or press releases, according to the source article. this silence leaves several specific questions unanswered: Will the heart become the permanent like symbol for Shorts, or is it merely a temporary test? Does the removal of the dislike button for some users signal a permanent policy shift, similar to the 2021 decision to hide the numeric dislike count but keep the button visible? And crucially, how will this affect the feedback loop that creators and viewers rely on for quality assessment? The source notes that the current experiment goes a step further than the 2021 plan by taking the button off the interface entirely for a subset of users, marking a potentially more aggressive approach to curtailing negative reactions.

A controlled experiment that may preview a platform-wide change

The test's limited scope — confined to Shorts and affecting only a minority of accounts — suggests YouTube is gathering user feedback before committing to a full-scale deployment, as the source notes. However, the platform has been gradually expanding Shorts into its desktop interface and integrating it with recommendation algorithmms, and the new reaction system could be part of that evolution. If the heart icon proves successful on Shorts, it could eventually spread to the broader YouTube ecosystem, fundamentally changing how users interact with all videos. For now, the experiment serves as a clear signal that YouTube is willing to borrow social-media conventions to compete in the short-form video space, even at the cost of breaking with its own long-standing design language.