Changing how we personalize your music recommendations

Music recommendations play an important role in YouTube Music. We're constantly evaluating different inputs to inform the music we recommend. On September 26th, we’ll be discontinuing our use of precise location as one of those inputs. More on what’s happening below.

Currently, if you’ve opted into the YouTube Music app’s location permission and Google Location History, we use your precise location to personalize your music experience. You might be recommended a Workout Essentials playlist at the gym, your Focus Supermix at work, or an Unwind playlist to relax at home.

Over the past year, we’ve found new ways to get you to the right music. For example, you can now find music for working out, focusing, and other activities within the activity bar at the top of Home. We think this is a better approach to help you soundtrack your day.

As a result, we’ve decided to discontinue our use of precise location in YouTube Music. We’ll be removing all precise location-based recommendations, location settings, and app permissions. We’re also deleting any YouTube Music data derived from your precise location. This change will go into effect on September 26th.  

We will continue to personalize your music experience based on your approximate location (for example, recommending the top songs charts for your country or weather-related playlists based on the weather in your city). These features will not be impacted. 

If you have any feedback about the change, feel free to pass them to the team using our official feedback tool, or by leaving a comment below.

 

– Hazel (TeamYouTube)