YouTube’s algorithm has spent years deciding what you should watch next. Now the platform is giving you a chance to tell it.
YouTube is rolling out Custom Feeds, allowing viewers to create permanent Home feeds simply by describing what they want to watch. At the same time, the platform is testing a redesigned mobile Home screen that puts Subscriptions much closer to the main feed.
Write The Feed You Want
Custom Feeds replace YouTube’s familiar topic chips for eligible users.
Tap the plus button and type something like “new DIY creators,” “long documentaries for Sunday night,” or “funny football analysis.” YouTube turns the prompt into its own recommendation feed and continues updating it as new videos appear.
Regular users can save up to three Custom Feeds, while Premium subscribers get eight. They are currently rolling out to signed-in U.S. viewers aged 13 and over using YouTube in English, with watch and search history enabled.
YouTube first announced the feature at Made On YouTube last month. Its arrival directly on Home makes it feel much less like an AI experiment and much more like a new way of navigating the platform.
🎨 Say hello to a refreshed @YouTube homepage experience!
There’s a new simplified top bar, with quick access to your subscriptions alongside Movies & TV, Live, Music, and your custom feeds.
Custom feeds are your personalized saved searches that go beyond just keywords; describe a type of content, a topic, or even just a vibe you’re looking for, and browse the recommendations that are continuously updated as new content is available. You can add, edit, or remove your custom feeds in the top bar at any time.
— Updates From YouTube (@UpdatesFromYT) October 22, 2026
And Subscriptions Are Coming Back Into View
YouTube is also testing a simpler mobile navigation bar that puts Subscriptions directly alongside Custom Feeds, Live and Music.
That is an interesting combination.
Social platforms have spent the last few years moving away from the people we actively chose to follow and toward algorithmically recommended content. YouTube is not abandoning recommendations, but it is making two forms of intent more visible again.
One is explicit: show me the creators I subscribed to.
The other is conversational: show me more of this specific thing.
Both give the viewer more say in what happens next.
For creators, that could mean discovery increasingly happens through a mix of algorithmic prediction and clearly expressed audience intent. Someone no longer needs to know your channel exists to find you. They just need to tell YouTube they want the kind of thing you make.
The recommendation algorithm is not disappearing.
YouTube is simply starting to let us brief it.