What you need to know
- YouTube is testing a change where selecting “All” notifications no longer guarantees you’ll receive push alerts for every video from a channel.
- If you rarely watch or interact with a channel, YouTube may stop sending you push notifications even if you explicitly requested them.
- Videos will still appear in your Subscriptions feed and in-app notification inbox, but your phone won’t buzz for channels you ignore.
Google is testing a change that could stop push notifications from some channels, even if you’ve chosen “All.”
In a new experiment, YouTube is limiting push notifications from channels when users rarely engage with them. Even if you picked “All” on a creator’s page, you might not get a push alert for every upload. Instead, those videos could just show up in your app’s notification inbox, without making your phone buzz.
The test began early in 2025. YouTube says it wants to cut down on notification fatigue. Over time, people have subscribed to hundreds of channels, often hitting “All” without thinking about how overwhelming it can be. If you stop opening or interacting with those notifications, YouTube may see that as a reason to send fewer push alerts.
The company says that if people ignore too many notifications, they might turn off YouTube notifications completely. This test is supposed to help keep users engaged by sending fewer, more relevant push alerts.
Engagement now dictates alerts
Your subscription status doesn’t change. You’re still subscribed, and you can still find new uploads in the Subscriptions tab or your notification inbox. But now, “All” doesn’t guarantee you’ll get real-time push alerts for every video.
This change matters even more for creators. Many depend on notification spikes to get early views, which help with YouTube’s recommendation system. If loyal subscribers stop getting push alerts, that early boost could fade. This is especially tough for smaller channels that rely on their most dedicated fans.
YouTube hasn’t shared how long this test will last or if it will be rolled out to everyone. For now, like most experiments, it’s only affecting a small group of users.
Android Central’s Take
I admit, I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve hit the bell for dozens of channels, thinking I’d keep up, but then I end up swiping away 15 notifications a day from creators I haven’t watched in months. Eventually, I get so annoyed that I think about muting the whole app. YouTube’s experiment tries to stop that from happening.
The upside is that when I get a push notification now, it actually matters. It’s from a channel I still care about, not just one I subscribed to ages ago. For creators, it means the people who get those alerts are more likely to click, watch, and engage.
Is it annoying that YouTube doesn’t just stick to my settings? A bit. But if the result is a notification feed I don’t want to mute forever, I’m okay with YouTube nudging me in this direction. Just remember to hit the like button on the channels you care about, because now your engagement is what gets you those push notifications.
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