YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is designed to suggest videos based on your interests and watch history. Over time, your recommendations can get stale, showing the same types of videos repeatedly. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to reset or refresh your YouTube recommended videos feed to find new content.
Table of Contents
Clear Your YouTube Watch History
The easiest way to reset your YouTube recommendations is by clearing your YouTube watch history. This removes all the viewing data that informs the recommendation algorithm about your interests.
On Mobile:
- Open the YouTube app and tap on your profile picture > Settings
- Select “History & privacy”
- Choose “Pause watch history” or “Delete watch history”
On Desktop:
- Go to YouTube.com and click on your profile picture > Settings
- Select “History & privacy”
- Click “Delete watch history” or “Pause watch history”
Clearing your entire watch history gives YouTube a clean slate in terms of recommendations. You’ll start seeing more variety in recommended videos after this reset.
Remove Specific Videos From Watch History
If you want to keep your watch history intact but remove certain videos that are skewing your recommendations, you can delete individual videos from your history.
On Mobile and Desktop:
- Go to YouTube.com and click on your profile picture > Settings
- Select “History & privacy” then click “Delete watch history”
- A list of recently watched videos will appear. Click the “X” icon next to any videos you want to remove.
Removing problematic videos from your history can refine your recommendations without fully resetting the algorithm.
Use YouTube in Incognito Mode
Watching YouTube in incognito or private browsing mode prevents any videos from being added to your watch history. This essentially gives you a one-time reset of video recommendations.
- Open a new incognito browser window or tab
- Go to YouTube and start watching videos
- Videos watched in this session won’t impact your recommendations going forward
Incognito mode is useful if you just want to explore YouTube without any tracking. But it’s not a permanent solution for refreshing stale recommendations.
Create Additional YouTube Accounts
Having multiple YouTube accounts lets you separate video categories into different recommendation feeds. For example, keep one account for music, another for gaming videos, etc.
To get fresh recommendations on a new account:
- Sign up for a separate YouTube account
- Only watch certain categories of videos while signed into that account
The recommendation algorithm will catch on over time, catering suggestions to that account’s watch history.
Use YouTube Guest Mode
YouTube’s guest mode allows you to browse videos without any tracking or recommendations based on previous history.
On Mobile:
- Open the YouTube app and tap on your profile picture > Switch account > Guest
On Desktop:
- Click on your profile picture > Switch account > Guest
Guest mode gives you fully reset video suggestions. It’s useful if you want to temporarily use YouTube without personalized recommendations.
Feedback Tools
YouTube offers feedback tools to refine your recommendations:
- Click the three-dot menu next to any suggested video and select “Not interested”
- Choose “Tell us why” to share more details about why the video is irrelevant
Consistently providing this feedback helps YouTube cater better recommendations over time.
Other Tips
Here are some additional ways to find new content and improve recommendations:
- Check out YouTube’s Trending page for the most popular recent videos
- Follow channels you enjoy to get notified of new uploads
- Use YouTube search to explicitly look up videos instead of relying solely on recommendations
- Watch videos in different languages to get more variety
- Switch between different YouTube apps and devices to compare recommendations
Conclusion
Resetting your YouTube recommended videos feed provides a simple way to discover new content. By clearing your watch history, using incognito mode, creating additional accounts, or providing feedback, you can refresh the algorithm’s understanding of your interests. Experiment with these methods to stay engaged with a wide range of videos on YouTube.
