YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google
YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google
YouTube has changed how it works for people not signed into Google account or using incoginto mode, and it's not showing suggested videos anymore. This change, which is being tested with some random users, shows a very simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch.
YouTube is no longer showing recommended videos to users logged out of a Google account or using Incognito mode, making people concerned they are being bullied into always being signed into the service.
This change, which is now rolling out, shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch.
As noted by some on X, users who have cleaned their search and watch history or turned off their history settings also see no suggestions when they're logged in. Some people think YouTube is being pushy about this, trying to make users turn on their history settings.
i like this change
All that is left is letting people without a watch history default to seeing their subscriptions instead of a blank page. That's the whole point of subscribing: I want my own curated experience. I don't want to watch BS YouTube thinks I want to watch.
It was a mistake letting YouTube decide on behalf of everyone that recommendations was a better experience than letting the users decide for themselves what to watch. The recommendations are no less of an echo chamber. Worse, the recommendations are gamed with churned, garbage content. It's the same problem as google search.
We need a return to form of user-curated content. Down with algorithmic recommendations.
Don’t threaten me with a good time!
Honestly, so glad they are making this change. Now I don't have to see the bottom of the barrel popular slop every time I use the incognito mode thing on Revanced.
What? That's literally a feature I got with a plugin. YouTube feels so much better without the algorithmic reinforced "hype" videos with no content and it's good for your mental health too.
Best. Change. Ever.
" shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch."
I've had watch history off for like 7 years now and I haven't had videos on my homepage for at least 2 years now. Hasn't bothered me a bit, I only watch my subscription page and find new people with the recommendations based off of their videos.
Love it!
I hate the recommended screen, I just use an extension called unhook: hide YouTube recommended, but now I find out they're doing it as the default? That's sick
Yeah... this isn't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned. I have never used the front page for anything, besides the search bar, and even that's waning.
This is an amazing way to view youtube .... this isn't a degradation of the service ... it's the first good useful thing they've done in years
That's fine, all the videos they suggest suck anyway. No I don't want to watch Madonna's Like a Virgin video when I've been watching Letterkenny clips, YouTube.
Love it
I moved to a newpipe fork about a year ago. I stopped using their suggestions altogether. I'm not going to lie it was a couple of months before I was able to get used to it. I've come to believe that having YouTube on permanent autoplay based on their algorithmic calculations of what I'd want to see is not entirely healthy for me.
At current, once I've watched everything from my chosen creators for the day. That's it I'm done, I go and find something more useful to do.
Now I see only the shows from my chosen creators,and if one of those guys recommends a different creator that they enjoy I'll usually throw a follow in that direction. Very organic very much not in someone's pocket. I've avoided TikTok like the plague. I think that, as much as possible, no companies financial statement should have a serious impact over my content consumption.
Is that a problem?? I mean I leave myself logged in all the time because I use google music and I absolutely hate their recommended videos and the algorithms behind it.
No fucking google I don't want to watch some douche canoe movie reviewer complaining about the latest movie being woke just because I watched some other movie critic that's actually thoughtful and insightful or at least funny to me without delving into sounding like a dog with the constant "woke...woke woke...woke woke woke woke".
I honestly thought this was how it always worked...seems like a good thing if they're at least appearing to not track people who aren't signed in, especially since in every other way they will try to get your data fighting tooth and claw. (Not saying they aren't tracking habits of non account users though)
Considering the right-wing garbage YT is constantly trying to slip into my recommendations - a habit of YT that has mysteriously gotten a whole lot worse in the last few weeks - I'd say they are threatening me with a good time.
It's pretty obvious they're only doing this to try to push people who like the recommendations to create an account. But can't people just create throwaway accounts to temporarily relieve their recommendation fix?
Their recommendations are useless anyway. I don't want to see 200 rock hard abs videos just because I watched a clip of Roseanne doing sit-ups.
I stopped letting YouTube save my watch history years ago because their suggestion algorithm became too intrusive: watch a quick cooking tutorial, get nothing be cooking channels, look up the proper way to use a toggle bolt, YouTube wants to teach me how to re-shingle a roof. It was out of control.
First, they took away my home screen, because they claimed they couldn't reccomend videos without my watch history (even though they'd done it for years). Then they took away the shorts tab, because they said they couldn't reccomend shorts without my watch history (even though they'd done it for months). So now I just have my subscriptions, a curated list of things I actually want to watch. They've punished me with the product I wanted this whole time.
My guess,
- It was too hard to create a non-authenticated algorithm which could let users delete their past participation.
- They realized their non-auth algorithm was exposing too much info about what is going on during the upcoming election. And they are afraid that people will see all the fasc recommendations.
Not a Bug.
This is more of a feature than a problem IMO.
Most services (like meta/Facebook/Instagram/anything owned by zuck', the service formerly known as Twitter....) are going to a model of: you need an account to even see anything posted publicly.
Not just extremely limited information like LinkedIn, like, instant redirect to "you need to be logged in to see this" or simply a login page.
At least you can still find something you want to see, and go and watch it... With ads and everything, sure, but the information is there and accessible.
deleted by creator
they also dont recommend anything on your homepage when you're signed in if you don't have your watch history turned on (as if they're not tracking it anyway)
lol, who cares
Fantastic news.
will this affect invidious/piped?
Do they want me to watch fewer videos?
Meh. For all the YT I consume, I haven't visited the site in years. yt-dlp, sponsor block, invidious, and newpipe keep me far away, while still having all my subs stored in a json file. Simple, easy, no algo suggestions, just organic heard about them from word of mouth sub on an alternative platform. No ads, no sponsor or patreon mentions, no like, no subscribe. Is bliss.
EDIT: Typo fix and slight rewording.
YouTube definitely not bullying users into staying signed it so that Google can aggregate more data about you /s
Service to humanity.
I noticed this a few days ago or so and I was delighted by it. I never sign in to YouTube and hated the garbage recommendations on the homepage.
As with what others are saying here, pulling out algo nonsense is good, however I do worry that it slowly devolves into something similar to what's happening with Twitter where you can barely look at anything without being pushed to login. It's unusable unless you have an account. Websites shouldn't operate like that.
You search for one thing and it starts showing recommendations.
I fail to see how this is a bad thing. Youtube's old default homepage would show scam and content mill recommendations.
It'll be rolled back when they realize engagement drops.
this move kinda got me to stop using youtube (for me, it also happens when my watch history is empty, and then it Specifically Nags that you need to unpause it for the feed to come back.) From personal reflection, I get how they could see people just enabling the watch history if they do this. (though right now, you don't need to not have it paused, there just needs to be stuff in it for the feed)
making people concerned they are being bullied into always being signed into the service
So, the majority WANTS to see the political propaganda, endless livestream of chill music to relax and study to, a bunch of spoiled kids making faces, and something indistinguishably small being pointed at by a huge red arrow?