YouTube for Android and iOS redesigned, gets recommendations powered by machine learning

YouTube today updated its Android and iOS apps with a homepage redesign and a new recommendation system. You can download the latest versions now from Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Google’s goal with the redesign is simple: “you should be able to see new videos you love every time you visit YouTube — right on your homepage.” So when you fire up the new app, you’ll be presented with the new Home section, which a YouTube spokesperson described as “made for mobile.” You can expect large, high-resolution images for identifying videos and an icon highlighting the creator of every video.

But this isn’t just a facelift. YouTube is promising “more relevant” personalized recommendations, courtesy of deep neural networks. YouTube’s new recommendation system actually shows users fewer recommendations now, but in a ranked list of what to watch. In other words, the company is confident it knows what you want to watch and how likely you are to watch it. Because the recommendation system is using machine learning, it finds patterns automatically and also keeps improving as you watch more videos.

The new recommendation system is also better at taking into account videos that were recently uploaded as well as videos from creators that you have subscribed to. Prior to today’s launch, YouTube tested it with select users, and found they spent more time watching new videos and content from their Subscriptions. That said, the company didn’t offer any numbers, and your mileage will undoubtedly vary. But again, YouTube seems pretty confident that the new system will keep mobile users hooked for longer than before.

Even if you don’t watch much, YouTube is constantly analyzing what others are consuming, and making connections across potentially related videos. The company shared today that YouTube recommends “hundreds of millions of different videos” every day on Home, billions of times, in 76 languages.