Update 1 (December 1, 2023)
05:45 pm (IST): In a statement to 9to5Google, YouTube has acknowledged the bug, adding that it has been fixed. The statement also reiterates YouTube’s stance to continue rolling out the August update to all users.
We found an error in our systems that has since been resolved. We’re continuing to roll out the new experience for recommendations based on viewers’ Watch History settings.
Original story (from November 30) follows:
Back in August, YouTube changed how you see recommendations on your homepage depending on your Watch History settings. With this change, if you turn off YouTube watch history, your home feed is disabled so you don’t see any video recommendations. Your homepage only shows the search bar and the left-hand guide menu with no feed of recommended videos. However, some people are now reporting that YouTube is no longer showing a blank homepage even with Watch History disabled. Instead, they are back to seeing video recommendations like before.
At the time of making the announcement, YouTube said the change will allow users “to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead” of seeing the usual video recommendations the algorithm thinks you may be interested in based on your watch history. But going by the reports doing rounds on Reddit and Twitter, this is far from the current YouTube experience. In fact, reports go as far as MacRumors’ Apple TV forums, suggesting this change might be rolling back widely.
Ironically, YouTube had previously said the change made in August will be rolling out slowly to all users “over the next few months.” But the latest developments suggest otherwise. So, has YouTube backtracked on a change that only arrived less than four months ago? When asked about it, here’s what the official YouTube support account on X said:
This response couldn’t be more generic and shows support can be unreliable sometimes. But in our own testing on multiple devices, including the Pixel 8 and Pixel 7a, we found these reports to be true. Even with Watch History disabled in the settings, YouTube is still showing recommendations on the home feed instead of a blank page. This issue comes a few months after we reported another related issue, where YouTube was forcing users to turn on their Watch History in order to access the home feed if the setting had been disabled.
While some people may not be happy with the latest developments, turns out several others actually like the change. Their preference is to have homepage video recommendations that are not based on their watch history rather than turn it off entirely. So YouTube may have to find a way to strike a balance between these two sets of users.
Hillary Keverenge
2114 Posts
Tech has been my playground for over a decade. While the Android journey began early, it truly took flight with the revolutionary Lollipop update. Since then, it's been a parade of Android devices (with a sprinkle of iOS), culminating in a mostly happy marriage with Google's smart home ecosystem. Expect insightful articles and explorations of the ever-evolving world of Android and Google products coupled with occasional rants on the Nest smart home ecosystem.
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