Summary
- Some YouTube users are reporting that the app is automatically playing the first video in their feed upon opening.
- While YouTube hasn’t officially announced this, user reports suggest it might be an unacknowledged experiment, causing frustration and algorithm concerns.
- Affected users have found temporary workarounds like using a web browser for YouTube, uninstalling updates, or clearing app data and cache.
Google rarely ever shies away from tweaking the way its online platforms and services look and function. Its streaming giant, YouTube, for example, is currently experimenting with highlighting recommended videos right within the ‘Now Playing’ queue. The experiment is being followed by a second one that intelligently reduces push notifications from subscribed channels that users haven’t actively engaged with recently.
The streaming giant is often diligent enough to announce said changes and/or experiments. However, with a new ‘reported’ experiment, YouTube seems to have left users in the dark.
YouTube’s latest test auto-mutes notifications from channels you don’t watch anymore
Fewer irrelevant YouTube push notifications?
For the better part of the last month, several users have aired their frustration about YouTube automatically playing the first video on their feed as soon as they open the YouTube Android app. Although this doesn’t seem to be a widespread occurrence, it isn’t an isolated one either (via TechIssuesToday).
For reference, here’s what affected users are saying:
- Youtube app is playing the first reccomended video when I open the app.
- Video plays when I open App.
- Couple of days ago YouTube started to autoplay both videos and shorts whenever I open the app.
- Youtube has started autoplaying videos when I open the app and I hate it.
- How to stop videos from automatically playing when I open the app?
- Youtube app is automatically opening the first video on the feed when i launch it on my phone (Android).
- YouTube automatically plays the first video in my homepage upon opening is it a bug how do I fix it?
- Youtube keeps automatically playing the first video that appears on my “home” area, right after i open the app.
These are all titles of user complaint posts on Reddit and Google’s community support forum, with each having several subsequent comments echoing the same issue. One of the affected users got in touch with YouTube support, and it looks like videos automatically playing upon opening the YouTube app might be an experiment after all — and not a bug.
“This is indeed an experimental feature”
On the contrary, scouring YouTube’s experiments and Labs page surfaced no mention of the feature.
The rationale behind the experimental feature is currently unclear. Though what’s clear is that users are clearly unhappy with it, especially considering that it is disruptive to the user experience and has the potential to spoil curated algorithms in an intrusive manner. Users affected by the issue experimental feature have found relief by using YouTube via their phone’s web browser, uninstalling app updates, and by clearing app data and cache.
