Got a blank YouTube homepage? You may now need to turn on your watch history

Date:
Thu, 10 Aug 2023 04:00:06 +0000

Description:
YouTube states it will no longer provide recommended videos to accounts that have their watch history tool turned off.

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YouTube users from across the internet have reported encountering a homepage completely devoid of content. Thats because the platform has decided it will no longer provide video recommendations if an account's watch history has
been turned off and [has] no significant prior [history] available.

The company quietly made the announcement on a support page explaining
certain features like your personal home feed require a watch history to function normally. Moving forward, users who wont allow YouTube to keep track will only see a search bar at the top of their page plus the four buttons on the left-hand guide menu. The platform states this update is to provide
people a more streamlined [experience] for those who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. It can also push users to become more acquainted with subscribed channels or the Topics tab as they wont be distracted by a wall of videos. Rolling out

A YouTube Community Manager said these changes will be rolling out slowly, over the next few months starting today, but as stated earlier, a few already have the update. Posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Reddit show the blank home pages on the YouTube mobile app as well as on desktop . All youll see is a window stating your watch history setting is currently disabled.

You can check if the patch has reached your account by going over to your Google Accounts Activity Controls. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll see the YouTube History entry where you can turn it off or make a few
adjustments. Return to your account and see if anythings different. (Image credit: Future) User response

The response from users has been mixed. On one hand, you have people who are pretty happy , even ecstatic, since their YouTube account will be a lot cleaner. Home feeds wont be inundated with unwelcome content just because
they played a random video one time. Others, however, are less keen stating this kills a huge part of YouTube. Part of the fun is having the algorithm feed you videos you may like, leading you to discover hidden gems on the
site. Some simply don't like the idea of having a completely empty home page or needing to reactivate their watch history. Why is @YouTube forcing me to turn on watch history?? Without watch history, the videos in home page are
not visible. I don't like this update! #youtube pic.twitter.com/8efIDJiFGM August 8, 2023 See more

Now if only YouTube would allow us to opt out of seeing advertisements, but thats wishful thinking. Well just have to make do with installing an ad blocker on our browser.

Speaking of which, be sure to check out TechRadars list of the best ad blockers for 2023 .



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/software/got-a-blank-youtube-homepage-you- may-now-need-to-turn-on-your-watch-history


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