Android YouTube users will finally have access to a feature allowing more intuitive filtering of the User Subscriptions page by channel. The change, spotted by 9to5Google, is subtle and is concentrated around the upper carousel found in the Subscriptions tab of the application. This is the user interface segment that allows users to select a channel to watch their videos.
Now, this subscription stream allows users to select a channel and bring the videos of those channels to the fore. The selected channel is highlighted and the videos shown only come from this channel. Other channels are always displayed in the carousel. This was not the case before, requiring additional tapping to return to the list.
YouTube also added a “View Channel” link at the top right, just below the carousel. This brings users to the profile page for the selected channel.
YouTube doesn’t just make these minor changes
Now, the changes to the way YouTube handles channel filtering in subscriptions are not the only ones that YouTube has made. They also arrive a little late since their arrival on iOS in May of last year. Apple users also have the advantage of sorting by “Today”, “Continue watching”, “Unsupervised” and “Live”. Android users are unlikely to see this feature for a while.
The programming is not entirely unexpected, given the number of widespread application changes that the Google-owned company has undertaken.
In addition to recent changes to the full YouTube Music app user interface to make it easier to control playback and other features, the company has also fought conspiracy theories.
The first change highlights all the buttons and interactive elements rather than storing them behind the taps on other user interfaces. It’s a little more crowded than the previous look, but it should make things easier to find. This latest effort on conspiracy theories has been heightened by success to some extent. Particularly with regard to easily demystified claims such as the flat earth and the 9/11 plots.
Other plots, linked to subjects ranging from extraterrestrial influence in human history to the denial of climate change, have gone unchecked. So YouTube has its hands full and it’s no surprise that it hasn’t made relatively minor changes to its main app yet.
None of this necessarily excuses YouTube for taking so long on the Channel Filtering feature on the Subscriptions page. But the company has many changes in other applications and urgent problems to solve.
Get started with the new feature
As you might expect, getting started with filtering YouTube subscription channels doesn’t really require extra effort from users. Instead, it appears to be deployed on all Android devices via an update in the Google Play Store. There is no parameter to set or toggles to return.
Instead, users simply need to go to the Subscriptions tab, located in the bottom bar of the YouTube app user interface. From there, YouTube will present users with a blue marker saying “New! Tap to filter by channel”.
Then, simply scroll through the channels you have subscribed to and select one.
