Hey folks,

Not sure if it’s just my account acting up, but over the past couple of weeks my YouTube homepage has felt… off. I’m getting way fewer videos from channels I actually watch and a lot more random “suggested for you” stuff that doesn’t really match my usual interests.

I mainly watch long-form tech breakdowns and gaming analysis, but now my feed is full of Shorts, reaction clips, and topics I’ve never searched for. Even when I hit “Not interested,” similar videos keep coming back. The Subscriptions tab still looks normal, so it feels more like a recommendation algorithm shift than an issue with the channels themselves.

One thing I’ve been wondering about is whether how we watch YouTube affects this more than we think. Some people use modified YouTube apps (YouTube Mod APK versions) for features like background playback or fewer interruptions — I’ve seen sites like https://ytmodz.com/ mentioned when people talk about those. If viewing happens through clients that don’t always sync watch history or engagement signals the same way as the official app, I’m curious whether that could confuse the recommendation system and lead to a “messier” homepage over time.

So I wanted to ask:

• Has anyone else noticed their homepage drifting away from their actual interests recently?

• Do you mostly rely on the Subscriptions tab now instead of Home?

• Have you found any reliable way to “retrain” recommendations so they line up with what you actually watch? (Clearing history, pausing history, liking more videos, etc.)

• If you use YouTube across multiple devices or apps, have you noticed differences in how well recommendations stay on track?

Curious how others — especially people who follow niche or long-form content — are dealing with this.