YouTube may mute notifications from channels you don't watch

YouTube is testing turning off notifications from channels viewers don't engage with in attempt to tame the number of notifications they receive. The video platform says the test will specifically impact viewers who've chosen to receive "All" notifications from a channel.

During the experiment, notifications will still appear in the notification inbox, but "viewers who haven’t recently engaged with a channel despite having been sent recent push notifications will not receive push notifications," YouTube says. The goal is to get viewers to not disable notifications entirely just because they've received too many.

Many YouTube creators specifically ask people to subscribe and enable notifications so they know when a new video has been uploaded. The problem is, when you agree to receive "All" notifications, you'll also get pestered about things that aren't new uploads. There are ways to manage your notifications, but YouTube claims it's common for people to disable them at the app-level once they get annoyed (impacting every channel they're subscribed to), rather than try and tweak things. For a creator who wants to maximize the number of people that watch their videos, not being able to rely on push notifications to grab subscribers' attention is a problem.

YouTube deciding that some viewers shouldn't receive notifications from a given channel seems like an extreme solution, though. The company describes this test as "small," but it certainly feels like there could be a more nuanced way to weed out the push notifications people don't need.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/youtube-may-mute-notifications-from-channels-you-dont-watch-202802028.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/social-media/youtube-may-mute-notifications-from-channels-you-dont-watch-202802028.html?src=rss
Created 4mo | Mar 28, 2025, 10:40:15 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

Great, Grok is in cars now too

Just a day after the xAI team issued a

Jul 13, 2025, 8:50:12 PM | Engadget
EA is reportedly hitting the brakes on the Need for Speed franchise

The Need for Speed franchise could be making its last laps — at least for the time being. Matthew Everingham, a photographer who frequently contributed to car culture website Speedhunters,

Jul 13, 2025, 6:30:18 PM | Engadget
Summer Games Done Quick 2025 raises $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders

Another weeklong round-the-clock spree of speedrunning video games has come to a close, with Summer Games Done Quick raising $2,436,614 for Doctors Without Borders. Held in Minneapolis, the event s

Jul 13, 2025, 6:30:17 PM | Engadget
It's the last day to get two months of Paramount+ access for only $2

Another hot streaming deal is here to match the summer heat. This time is comes fro

Jul 13, 2025, 11:40:04 AM | Engadget
The Cult of the Lamb comic is coming back with the Schism Special this fall

We're officially getting more of the Cult of the Lamb comic expansion. Following last year's miniseries, which built on the game's existing lore and injected some real emotional depth, wri

Jul 12, 2025, 9:40:13 PM | Engadget
Grok team apologizes for the chatbot's 'horrific behavior' and blames 'MechaHitler' on a bad update

The team behind Grok has issued a rare apology and explanation of what went wrong after X's chatbot began

Jul 12, 2025, 7:30:05 PM | Engadget
Nintendo reportedly bans Switch 2 user playing preowned game cards

You might have to be extra careful who you buy your used Nintendo Switch game cards from if you don't want to get mistakenly banned. A Nintendo Switch 2 owner

Jul 12, 2025, 7:30:04 PM | Engadget