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YouTube's apps are getting a facelift. Its iOS and Android apps were updated Tuesday with a new design that brings an improved set of recommendations, along with a visual overhauls of its home feed. 

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The refreshed design represents both visual improvements and behind-the-scenes tweaks. Previously, the recommendations in the app's home feed looked more similar to what you would see on YouTube's website from desktop: a text-heavy layout with small thumbnails for each video. 

The new design eliminates much of the text -- relying on large high-res thumbnails instead. It also features the video creators more prominently by showing profile icons underneath each video.

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The new design for YouTube's Android (left) and iOS (right) apps.Credit: YouTube

But the changes are more than just a visual refresh. Behind the scenes, YouTube has also tweaked its recommendation algorithm to make the suggestions more relevant to each user. The new recommendations take more factors -- like your location, viewing history and device type -- into account, along with more sophisticated machine learning technology. 

Coming at a time when YouTube is facing more competition than ever from Facebook, Google is likely hoping the changes will help keep users in the YouTube app for longer. The update could also help encourage video creators to keep their videos within YouTube's ecosystem.

"We really feel like this feature is great for creators in two ways: one is in the user experience where we’re able to show an icon on every video for the person who created it, and the second way is in the way we’re seeing users watching more from their subscriptions in this new experience," YouTube's VP of Product Management Johanna Wright tells Mashable.

The new home feed is limited to YouTube's mobile apps for now, though it seems likely similar changes to YouTube's recommendations would eventually make their way to desktop.

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