It's happening—YouTube is finally cloning TikTok with their new beta product called Shorts. However, the user interface (UI) for Shorts is, well, not great. It's not amazing.

About a year ago, I created a little clone of the TikTok UI just for fun. During that process, I realized something crucial: for the experience to work, the video must fill the screen completely. This edge-to-edge display is essential.

Unfortunately, YouTube Shorts often crops videos and adds black bars, which really breaks the mobile experience. Instead of a seamless flow, you're swiping up and down through what feels like a vertical slideshow—similar to stories, but with a vertical orientation.

This UI choice disrupts the immersive experience that TikTok has mastered, where each video fully engages the viewer without distractions.