YouTube Finally Gives You More Control Over What Videos You See When You Sign in And in Suggestions

If you are someone who consumes a daily dose of videos on YouTube, you would be happy to know that the Google owned video streaming platform is finally rolling out more controls for what you see on the Homepage and also the recommendations in the Up Next bar. YouTube says that these updates will be rolling out for all users in the next few days.

On the YouTube Homepage, you will now see quick access options for topics that may be of relevance to you, based on your present recommendations and viewing history. You might have, for instance, recommendations from your favorite music genre, or a dose of late-night talk shows or even some cooking videos. “They could be videos related to the one you’re watching, videos published by the channel you’re watching, or other topics which may be of interest to you. This new feature can be found on the homepage when you scroll up, and on Up Next when browsing,” says Essam El-Dardiry, Product Manager, YouTube. This new feature will be available for signed-in users in English, and on the YouTube app for Android. It will soon be rolled out for the YouTube app for iOS, when you access YouTube on your desktop and also for users who have other languages set as default.

There is also the option to remove channels that you don’t want to watch. “Although we try our best to suggest videos you’ll enjoy, we don't always get it right, so we are giving you more controls for when we don’t. We’ve now made it simple for you to tell us to stop suggesting videos from a particular channel,” says El-Dardiry. For this, you need to tap on the three-dot menu next to a video and select the “Don’t recommend channel” option. After that, you should no longer see videos from that channel suggested to you on YouTube. This new feature is available globally on the YouTube app for Android and iOS today, and will be available on the desktop soon.

The third and final feature is the added information for why a video is showing up in your suggestions list. “When we’re suggesting videos based on this, you'll now see more information underneath the video in a small box. Our goal is to explain why these videos surface on your homepage in order to help you find videos from new channels you might like,” says El-Dardiry. This feature is now available globally on the YouTube app for iOS today, and will be available on Android and desktop soon.