YouTube tests turning off notifications for channels you don’t watch
YouTube says it’s trying to prevent ‘overwhelmed’ users from turning off all notifications just because certain channels post too frequently.
YouTube says it’s trying to prevent ‘overwhelmed’ users from turning off all notifications just because certain channels post too frequently.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Umar Shakir is a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.
YouTube is switching off some push notifications for channels with frequent uploads in a new test that might make you miss alerts you’ve signed up for. The latest test announced by the official TeamYouTube community targets channels that users have notifications set to “all” for, but often don’t open those notifications.
The test won’t turn off notifications for channels that don’t upload frequently, as TeamYouTube member Rob noted:
Viewers who haven’t recently engaged with a channel despite having been sent recent push notifications will not receive push notifications in the experiment. Notifications will still be available via the notification inbox in the YouTube app. Channels that upload infrequently will not have their notifications affected.
Actively engaged viewers with push notifications enabled on their device will continue to receive them. (No change)
It’s not clear whether users will have any indication that they’re missing notifications, and it doesn’t seem normal to have a platform manage your notifications for you.
“When viewers turn off all notifications from YouTube, all creators are unable to reach even their most engaged viewers outside the app. The goal of this experiment is to help us find ways to reduce this problem,” wrote Rob. Too many notifications can certainly be annoying, it’s possible some viewers want to see their favorite channels’ updates, even if they don’t immediately watch them.
The test is just a “small experiment,” but there’s no mention of how long it will go on for or whether it will expand to more users.
