YouTube Music testing ‘Workout,’ ‘Commute,’ and other filters for ‘Home’ feed suggestions

Abner Li | Sep 29 2020 - 11:28 pm PT

Besides introducing an “Explore” tab earlier this year, Google’s primary — and soon only — streaming service has remained visually unchanged since the 2018 revamp. YouTube Music is now testing high-level filters for the Home feed of recommendations.

One Reddit user today received a YouTube Music design that places filters at the top of the Android app. This is very similar in principle to how the main YouTube client works.

Appearing underneath the YouTube Music logo, search button, and profile avatar, the four — Workout, Focus, Relax, and Commute — are accompanied by background images. When not selected, the chips are partially transparent to allow the image to show through.

These filters determine what songs, albums, playlists, and sections appear in the Home tab. They remain docked to the top of the app as you scroll down the feed. It’s an interesting way for Google to explicitly surface the curated and algorithmic content that YouTube Music hosts.

However, there should likely be a default view that shows a combined feed, like on the main YouTube app. Some content arguably does not fit under those four categories. Since only one person has encountered this A/B test so far, it’s not clear whether everybody gets those four filters or if it’s personalized.