YouTube’s homepage hasn’t “broken”; it’s been deliberately redesigned and made more algorithm‑driven and visually “richer,” which is why it suddenly feels very different or less useful for a lot of people.

Quick Scoop: What actually changed?

Over the last few years (and continuing into 2025–2026), YouTube has been steadily turning the homepage into a hyper‑personalized recommendation surface rather than a simple “feed of your channels.”

Key shifts behind the “what happened?” feeling:

  • Much heavier reliance on recommendation algorithms (watch history, search, engagement, skips, etc.).
  • Less obvious, less central focus on pure subscription feeds; your homepage is now “what YouTube thinks you’ll watch,” not “what you chose to follow.”
  • Bigger thumbnails and more immersive previews, so each video card occupies more space and you see fewer videos at a glance.
  • Visual refreshes and “expressive” UI tweaks: new animations, preview styles, and layout polishing rolling out in early 2026.
  • More integration of “product” and monetization features (e.g., QR codes for products, shopping and TV‑style previews, AI‑enhanced playback on TV).

Users experience this as: “Why is my homepage full of random stuff, giant tiles, and features I never asked for?”

What the algorithm is doing now

The modern YouTube homepage is basically a live experiment feed tuned to maximize watch time and engagement.

Some of the main signals it uses:

  • Viewing history – what you watch, how long you stay, what you binge.
  • Search queries – topics you actively look for.
  • Engagement – likes, comments, shares, watch time, how often you return.
  • Skips and hides – what you ignore, scroll past, or remove gives negative feedback.
  • Demographics and context – rough profile and broad behavior patterns from similar users.

Result: the homepage can shift quickly after a few odd clicks (e.g., watching one random viral clip or niche topic can flood your recommendations).

Visual and layout changes people are noticing

You’re not imagining the UI changes; YouTube has been iterating on layout for years, with another wave around 2024–2026.

Commonly reported changes:

  • Larger, higher‑resolution thumbnails that show fewer videos per screen, especially on desktop and TV.
  • “Immersive previews” on the homepage (hover / focus showing richer motion previews for videos).
  • More prominent channel icons and longer titles under each video card.
  • New visual style updates framed as a “more expressive and intuitive experience.”
  • On TV/large screens: features like AI‑driven “Super Resolution” and richer previews contribute to a more “app‑like” homepage rather than a simple grid.

Some users like the cleaner, more cinematic look; others feel it wastes space and buries content.

Why so many people are annoyed

A lot of forum posts and videos are essentially saying the same thing: the homepage used to be about control and discovery; now it’s about YouTube’s goals.

Typical complaints:

  • “My subscriptions are buried; homepage is random stuff, not my creators.”
  • “The new layout shows like 6–10 videos instead of a full grid—less information, more scrolling.”
  • “I tried to ‘fix’ my recommendations and ended up with completely generic junk suggestions.”
  • “Changes keep harming small creators and views; homepage favors already‑big or very clickable content.”

From YouTube’s perspective, these updates are about simplifying, personalizing, and improving discovery and monetization; from many users’ perspective, it feels like losing control of the front page they were used to.

How to cope or push it closer to “old YouTube”

You can’t revert to a truly “old” homepage, but you can nudge it:

  1. Lean into subscriptions and feeds
    • Use the dedicated “Subscriptions” tab or a “Following”/feed‑style view instead of relying on the homepage.
  1. Actively train recommendations
    • Click “Not interested,” remove irrelevant videos, and avoid “just clicking” random stuff that doesn’t reflect your real interests.
  1. Segment your behavior
    • Consider separate accounts/profiles for different viewing moods (e.g., one for serious content, one for random entertainment) so the algorithm doesn’t mix everything together.
  1. Use search more
    • Treat the homepage as suggestions, but use search and subscriptions as your main navigation when you want control.

None of this fully restores the old homepage, but it can make the current one feel less chaotic and more tuned to what you actually want to watch.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.