I reject all cookies from YouTube and browse without an account. It’s fantastic. There’s no history, which they try to make you feel bad about and paint as a negative, but knowing what the front-page is I’m glad I don’t have to see any of that trash. Every time I open a video, the recommendations are related to that specific video and not past history. For the channels I care about, I subscribe via RSS. Highly recommended.
Doesn't that mean you only get recommended the most popular stuff? If your taste is completely mainstream then I suppose it's fine, but it means it won't find anything for you related to even a mildly niche interest.
> Doesn't that mean you only get recommended the most popular stuff?
No, the only recommendations are the ones on the side of the video and they’re varied in popularity and age (from just posted to a decade ago). They seem to be related to the same subject or type of creator of the current video. They’re very hit or miss in terms of what I’d like, and that’s fine with me. Believe me, the recommendations have nothing to do with what’s popular on the homepage, and I know that because I remember well when they didn’t hide it; the homepage was absolute garbage and mostly shit from my country.
One thing I forgot to mention is that I also use iCloud Private Relay, which may further affect it. That in particular isn’t always good as sometimes YouTube refuses to play the video and asks me to sign in to prove I’m not a bot. Fortunately that has happened fewer times than I thought it would. When it does I either temporarily switch browsers or just close YouTube and go do something else.
