5 ms·

FYI YouTube home screen does not show any videos if watch history is off

17 points by woofwoofwoof 3y ago

Looks like they really want you to enable watch history.

explain 3y ago
They wrote a blog post about this change last week as if it was a good thing. It's not a good thing: "you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead." I'm still not enabling my watch history.
- cyanydeez 3y ago
  I've got an android YouTube app on my Pico projector and it's never logged in, but it definitely remembers my history and only takes a few hours of watching to dial into a narrow band of recommendations. So, this appears to be some legal derived obeyance, nothing more.
- sockaddr 3y ago
  They’re deliberately being a petty asshole about it (that part isn’t good) but the end result is actually probably better for your brain so I’m fine with the pettiness.
raverbashing 3y ago
Good? The unlogged YT front page usually makes me feel like I've lost 10 IQ points
- colanderman 3y ago
  Seeded by things you've thumbs-upped was pretty decent. This change will just make me less likely to browse YouTube.
- yMMe2WYE_D 3y ago
  I have heard that TikTok algorithm is great as long as you give it a bit time to learn your preferences. I don't think I would be able to survive that process, for exact same reason - it serves absolute dumb garbage, in hundreds.
tekla 3y ago
Good. This is exactly what people who disable watch history wants.
- prepend 3y ago
  How so? I don’t enable watch history but would still like to see recommendations. Could be based on geography, or overall trends, or time of day. Or whatever. Also, I find it funny to think Google isn’t tracking my watch history even if they aren’t showing it back to me. So why not try to have a positive user behavior. I don’t like Google’s attitude of “we’re going to purposely make our product shitty unless you enable all the data settings we want you to and that maximize our revenue.” They do the same thing with Maps and it’s offputting and one of the main reasons I no longer use them. The idea that I can’t set local cookies for common locations and must enable cloud saving is so stupid. So they made their map client worse by not allowing local places. I don’t mind my own phone knowing my home address, but don’t want it in my google profile.
  - rgoulter 3y ago
    > I don’t enable watch history but would still like to see recommendations. Could be based on geography, or overall trends, or time of day. The Explore tab has "Trending, Music, Gaming, News, Sports". And each of those has more specific sub-sections.
    - prepend 3y ago
      For happier customers, they should pick one of those and show it by default.
- cyanydeez 3y ago
  Doubtful. They want privacy. It doesn't equate to wanting no recommendations. The android YouTube App on my Pico projector doesn't need a. Login to watch my history and make recommendations. The most likely privacy invasion is like the most likely assailant in violence: people you know.
water9 3y ago
Youtube needs a refresh suggestions button
- prepend 3y ago
  “I’m feeling lucky” and “Just show me a random video” would be fun. Also just having weird stuff like “show me a video that most closely matches this color scheme” or “find me the antipode of this video”
  - razodactyl 3y ago
    Look for an app called "Neverthink". It's on Apple-TV too.
- rypskar 3y ago
  On the home screen, clicking the Youtube logo refreshes the suggestions. Or did I misunderstand and you want it in a different view?
  - patmorgan23 3y ago
    It think they mean more like "nothing on the home page looks interesting show different stuff". Sometimes YouTube will decide " I'm only going to recommend these 3 videos to you for the next month" or just misses the mark on the stuff I'm interested in watching
  - water9 3y ago
    I guess the Apple TV app leaves something to be desired but then again.. that makes total sense for Google / Chromecast
- LegitShady 3y ago
  Youtube consistently forgets that I watched a video just a few days ago (no red line on the bottom of the thumbnail), and will suggest it over and over until you manually go to click on the ignore. Even recently they had a “suggest new” button on top near the “interests” buttons that would appear there, but I haven’t seen it for several weeks or maybe longer. Youtube will also randomly switch a video I’m watching to 480p even though I pay for premium. Their suggestion algorithm is also pretty bad to me, although maybe it works for some people.
Lastodon 3y ago
Is there anyone with view history turned off that doesn't have their youtube shortcut go directly to the flow=2 subscription videos page?
2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago
That's a good feature- I don't want to see any recommendations.
fjfuvucucuc 3y ago
You guys use the home screen? It's just ads. Watch the subscription feed.
- circuit10 3y ago
  My subscription feed is filled with things that are completely irrelevant because it doesn't adapt to my interests. I guess I could prune my subscriptions but why would I when the home screen works so much better? Also if you only watch people you're already subscribed to it will be hard to find new things. I don't know what makes you say the home screen is "just ads" because that's definitely not true
  - fjfuvucucuc 3y ago
    It's just ads because YouTube serves you think most clickbaity thing that will keep your eyeballs on screen (for the ads). Homepage doesn't care about discovery at all that's just a side effect. I think maybe you should stop subscribing to channels you don't like?
rawling 3y ago
Tell HN: YouTube requires watch history on for home screen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37158674 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37158674 Tell HN: YouTube is not showing home recommendations when watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37157835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37157835 YouTube Will Display a Blank Home Feed If Your Watch History Is Turned Off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37151135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37151135 YouTube will stop showing videos on the homepage if your watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37066718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37066718 YouTube no longer suggests videos if your ‘watch history’ is turned off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37058189 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37058189 YouTube will stop showing videos on the homepage if your watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37054233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37054233 YouTube will now show a blank homepage if you don’t have watch history on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37053817 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37053817 Ash HN: YouTube home page blank when history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36963702 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36963702
_lvbh 3y ago
My watch history is off. How do I turn off Home Screen? I still get it
- c420 3y ago
  Staggered implementation? I still had a home page yesterday but it's gone this morning.
- stevenae 3y ago
  Delete your watch history.
HumblyTossed 3y ago
This is actually so much better.
- manuelmoreale 3y ago
  Agree. On mobile has become essentially the Google experience meaning there’s just a search field and nothing else. I personally love it.
Tarsul 3y ago
as someone who is never logged in, this was actually the case a week ago. However, it has since returned to the old ways (which means that I get suggestions that are based on my history). (Europe, Firefox)
PM_me_your_math 3y ago
I'd trade this for the eradication of shorts. The format is simply mind-numbing, and the volume of low effort content with zero relevance is a big turn off.
villgax 3y ago
I actually glad, I can just go to my subs directly
IronWolve 3y ago
I've had to clear my like and watch history a few times, since I'll watch foreign language tech videos and it often messes up my feed. History off was my default to fix yt's issues. Theres a browser extension, pockettube, that turns yt into a cable network, tons of features, it really has made yt more usable and enjoyable. https://pockettube.io/ https://pockettube.io/ I wish someone would make a pockettube type app that wasnt just for yt, but also worked with other video services. Maybe give me a priority of videos per platform, so I could pick the platform that makes the most money for the creator. Its kinda like rss feeds with a front end, amazed nobody has made this, we have it for podcasts and news, but not video platforms? so strange.

17 points by woofwoofwoof 3y ago

Looks like they really want you to enable watch history.

They wrote a blog post about this change last week as if it was a good thing. It's not a good thing: "you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead." I'm still not enabling my watch history.

cyanydeez 3y ago
I've got an android YouTube app on my Pico projector and it's never logged in, but it definitely remembers my history and only takes a few hours of watching to dial into a narrow band of recommendations. So, this appears to be some legal derived obeyance, nothing more.
sockaddr 3y ago
They’re deliberately being a petty asshole about it (that part isn’t good) but the end result is actually probably better for your brain so I’m fine with the pettiness.

raverbashing 3y ago

Good? The unlogged YT front page usually makes me feel like I've lost 10 IQ points

colanderman 3y ago
Seeded by things you've thumbs-upped was pretty decent. This change will just make me less likely to browse YouTube.
yMMe2WYE_D 3y ago
I have heard that TikTok algorithm is great as long as you give it a bit time to learn your preferences. I don't think I would be able to survive that process, for exact same reason - it serves absolute dumb garbage, in hundreds.

tekla 3y ago

Good. This is exactly what people who disable watch history wants.

prepend 3y ago
How so? I don’t enable watch history but would still like to see recommendations. Could be based on geography, or overall trends, or time of day. Or whatever. Also, I find it funny to think Google isn’t tracking my watch history even if they aren’t showing it back to me. So why not try to have a positive user behavior. I don’t like Google’s attitude of “we’re going to purposely make our product shitty unless you enable all the data settings we want you to and that maximize our revenue.” They do the same thing with Maps and it’s offputting and one of the main reasons I no longer use them. The idea that I can’t set local cookies for common locations and must enable cloud saving is so stupid. So they made their map client worse by not allowing local places. I don’t mind my own phone knowing my home address, but don’t want it in my google profile.
- rgoulter 3y ago
  > I don’t enable watch history but would still like to see recommendations. Could be based on geography, or overall trends, or time of day. The Explore tab has "Trending, Music, Gaming, News, Sports". And each of those has more specific sub-sections.
  - prepend 3y ago
    For happier customers, they should pick one of those and show it by default.
cyanydeez 3y ago
Doubtful. They want privacy. It doesn't equate to wanting no recommendations. The android YouTube App on my Pico projector doesn't need a. Login to watch my history and make recommendations. The most likely privacy invasion is like the most likely assailant in violence: people you know.

water9 3y ago

Youtube needs a refresh suggestions button

prepend 3y ago
“I’m feeling lucky” and “Just show me a random video” would be fun. Also just having weird stuff like “show me a video that most closely matches this color scheme” or “find me the antipode of this video”
- razodactyl 3y ago
  Look for an app called "Neverthink". It's on Apple-TV too.
rypskar 3y ago
On the home screen, clicking the Youtube logo refreshes the suggestions. Or did I misunderstand and you want it in a different view?
- patmorgan23 3y ago
  It think they mean more like "nothing on the home page looks interesting show different stuff". Sometimes YouTube will decide " I'm only going to recommend these 3 videos to you for the next month" or just misses the mark on the stuff I'm interested in watching
- water9 3y ago
  I guess the Apple TV app leaves something to be desired but then again.. that makes total sense for Google / Chromecast
LegitShady 3y ago
Youtube consistently forgets that I watched a video just a few days ago (no red line on the bottom of the thumbnail), and will suggest it over and over until you manually go to click on the ignore. Even recently they had a “suggest new” button on top near the “interests” buttons that would appear there, but I haven’t seen it for several weeks or maybe longer. Youtube will also randomly switch a video I’m watching to 480p even though I pay for premium. Their suggestion algorithm is also pretty bad to me, although maybe it works for some people.

Lastodon 3y ago

Is there anyone with view history turned off that doesn't have their youtube shortcut go directly to the flow=2 subscription videos page?

2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago

That's a good feature- I don't want to see any recommendations.

fjfuvucucuc 3y ago

You guys use the home screen? It's just ads. Watch the subscription feed.

circuit10 3y ago
My subscription feed is filled with things that are completely irrelevant because it doesn't adapt to my interests. I guess I could prune my subscriptions but why would I when the home screen works so much better? Also if you only watch people you're already subscribed to it will be hard to find new things. I don't know what makes you say the home screen is "just ads" because that's definitely not true
- fjfuvucucuc 3y ago
  It's just ads because YouTube serves you think most clickbaity thing that will keep your eyeballs on screen (for the ads). Homepage doesn't care about discovery at all that's just a side effect. I think maybe you should stop subscribing to channels you don't like?

rawling 3y ago

Tell HN: YouTube requires watch history on for home screen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37158674 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37158674 Tell HN: YouTube is not showing home recommendations when watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37157835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37157835 YouTube Will Display a Blank Home Feed If Your Watch History Is Turned Off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37151135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37151135 YouTube will stop showing videos on the homepage if your watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37066718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37066718 YouTube no longer suggests videos if your ‘watch history’ is turned off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37058189 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37058189 YouTube will stop showing videos on the homepage if your watch history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37054233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37054233 YouTube will now show a blank homepage if you don’t have watch history on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37053817 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37053817 Ash HN: YouTube home page blank when history is off https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36963702 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36963702

_lvbh 3y ago

My watch history is off. How do I turn off Home Screen? I still get it

c420 3y ago
Staggered implementation? I still had a home page yesterday but it's gone this morning.
stevenae 3y ago
Delete your watch history.

HumblyTossed 3y ago

This is actually so much better.

manuelmoreale 3y ago
Agree. On mobile has become essentially the Google experience meaning there’s just a search field and nothing else. I personally love it.

Tarsul 3y ago

as someone who is never logged in, this was actually the case a week ago. However, it has since returned to the old ways (which means that I get suggestions that are based on my history). (Europe, Firefox)

PM_me_your_math 3y ago

I'd trade this for the eradication of shorts. The format is simply mind-numbing, and the volume of low effort content with zero relevance is a big turn off.

villgax 3y ago

I actually glad, I can just go to my subs directly

IronWolve 3y ago

I've had to clear my like and watch history a few times, since I'll watch foreign language tech videos and it often messes up my feed. History off was my default to fix yt's issues. Theres a browser extension, pockettube, that turns yt into a cable network, tons of features, it really has made yt more usable and enjoyable. https://pockettube.io/ https://pockettube.io/ I wish someone would make a pockettube type app that wasnt just for yt, but also worked with other video services. Maybe give me a priority of videos per platform, so I could pick the platform that makes the most money for the creator. Its kinda like rss feeds with a front end, amazed nobody has made this, we have it for podcasts and news, but not video platforms? so strange.