YouTube might finally be addressing one of its most persistent user frustrations: the chaotic, hit-or-miss Home feed.
The platform has begun testing a new experimental feature called “Your Custom Feed,” designed to give users far more control over the content they see.
For years, YouTube’s recommendation algorithm has been notorious for leaping to conclusions. Watch a handful of Disney clips and suddenly your homepage is convinced you’re a lifelong superfan. Explore one niche, even out of curiosity, and your entire feed gets hijacked.
“Your Custom Feed” is YouTube’s attempt to break this pattern.
As explained by YouTube:
“We’re experimenting with a new feature called ‘Your custom feed,’ that lets you customize recommendations for your Home feed. If you are part of the experiment, you will see ‘Your Custom Feed’ appear on your Home page as a chip besides ‘Home’. When you click into it, you can update your existing Home feed recommendations by entering a simple prompt.”
The new option appears next to the standard Home tab for those in the test. Tap it, and instead of passively accepting whatever the algorithm gives you, you can tell YouTube exactly what you want by typing in prompts. Want more cooking videos? Tech explainers? Running tips? Enter it and the feed reconfigures accordingly.
It’s a simple idea, but a meaningful one: moving the platform from algorithm decides to user directs. A potential game changer for people tired of endlessly clicking “Not interested” or “Don’t recommend channel.”
YouTube isn’t alone here. Threads has been caught experimenting with a “configure your algorithm” control panel, and X is reportedly working on a feature where users can tag Grok, its AI chatbot, to help shape their feed in real time.
Whether “Your Custom Feed” becomes a widely-rolled-out product remains to be seen, but the direction is clear: platforms are finally acknowledging that personalization shouldn’t feel like guesswork.