16
votes
YouTube mobile app has deeply hidden the subscription feed
I just opened YouTube on my iPhone and realized there was no UI at all for seeing my subscriptions. I had to relaunch the app and notice right when it opens they show a subscriptions link at the top but it auto-hides. So what you need to do is tap on the screen and then tap on the subscriptions link. There’s no other reference to subscriptions anywhere. It’s almost completely hidden now.
I have “watch history” disabled, which turns YouTube from a wannabe TikTok into its former self. You get no algorithmic suggestions and you can’t watch shorts (unless linked to them directly or through subscriptions). So now the YouTube app essentially has no content unless you dig through hidden UI. This is crazy.
I had the same experience.
Now to be fair to YouTube here, my understanding is that we are in the minority here. They are really just changing the UI/UX to match what the user base is actually doing. Which is only the home page recommendations and shorts.
I don't have the numbers, it's purely based off watching YouTubers talk about their user base and how their videos are consumed now.
To push back on this, YouTube has been making subscriptions less accessible and overall less visible gradually for years now. In general it somewhat irks me when people defend big tech UI decisions with "but that is how people are using it" while ignoring that often the way people use something is caused by deliberate UX choices and patterns from those companies.
Ok, that's valid. It did cross my mind as I posted.
They do definitely try to push users to the home feed and shorts, and it's been working.
Well, they could simply just show me a subscriptions button if I have watch history turned off.
I just went to check thinking it couldn't be that bad. I don't actually use the Youtube app almost at all, so when I first opened it it had a subscriptions button right at the bottom right. I guess it updated itself though, because I re-opened it and that button was gone.
Even with written instructions, it took me several tries to figure out how to get to the new subs tab. Have to agree that this is indeed crazy.
Have you tried simply pulling the page back down after it has slid up? Seems to work on android on version 21.43.523. Note that I usually don't use that app to watch YouTube videos, so that's just a snapshot of me testing it a minute ago.
Or just swipe sideways. Because now home, subs, music, live, more are basically UI tabs and swiping sideways navs between the tabs.
Though there is a conflict with swiping sideways through a carousel vs trying to switch tab.
eg.
https://youtube.com/shorts/RAR9WrjLV6o
That initiates a reload and doesn't show any buttons or links.
What AndreasChris described works in the newest version just fine. Are you sure your app hasn't updated yet to move the Subs tab to the top bar row?
On Android, it's always there on the bottom.
As of yesterday, it changed for me on Android to match what @AndreasChris describes. Funnily enough I don't even use the Youtube mobile app that often, but the past two days I was checking it to see if it'd show someone I subscribe to scheduling a livestream. So I noticed the change pretty quickly.
Looking at the Play Store, the app didn't update since October 28 and isn't even queued for an update, so it's not a matter of different app versions. (Unless it's somehow tied to Google Drive updating "1 day ago"...?) If it hasn't hit your phone yet, there might be a gradual rollout across all users.
That's how it was yesterday for me. The update is likely coming to Android soon...
It's already there. Though subscriptions are still the same amount of clicks for me. They are just somewhat obfuscated under "subs" in a top menu on the home page.
Luckily on Android I can also long press on the youtube icon and choose to go subscriptions directly.
Have you tried the Yattee app? It's an alternative open source YouTube app for iOS. Doesn't have a recommendation feed, but since you already don't use that, it may work for you.
https://docs.yattee.stream/docs/app/getting-started
You could try Greyjay? It's what I use exclusively and it works fine. Its configurable, removes adds, shows what you subscribed to (locally on device) in chronological order, and it aggregates Nebula, PeerTube and Twitch feed as well. It's basically YouTube premium but for every video platform at the same time.
I cann't go back.