YouTube Is Removing the Subscriptions Tab From Its Mobile Apps

YouTube is pulling the dedicated Subscriptions tab from the bottom navigation bar on its Android and iOS apps. The company is replacing it with a new set of tabs at the top of the Home screen, including custom feeds built from user-written prompts.

The change is part of a broader redesign centered on that new custom feeds feature. The removal affects the fourth slot in the bottom bar, which YouTube has used for Subscriptions since 2017 - nearly a decade. Going forward, the Subscriptions section will live in the top bar on the Home tab rather than along the bottom of the screen.

What YouTube Is Changing in the App

According to 9to5Google, YouTube described the update as the start of a series of changes aimed at improving the Home experience on mobile. The redesign shifts navigation away from the bottom bar and toward a row of tabs running across the top of the Home screen.

In the new layout, Subscriptions - labeled "Subs" - appears in the second slot after Home, marked by a red underline. After it come dedicated feeds for Live, Music, and Movies & TV. The Movies & TV feed only shows up for users who have active paid subscriptions, such as Primetime Channels.

One side effect of the change is that it removes YouTube's navigation drawer, which had served as an alternate menu for reaching different parts of the app. That drawer will no longer be needed once the top-bar tabs handle those navigation functions. Testing of the redesign began earlier this year before this wider rollout.

The Custom Feeds Feature Explained

The bigger reason behind the redesign is the launch of custom feeds. This feature lets users create personalized content streams by describing what they want in plain language. A user might type something like "help me unwind after work with guided meditations under 10 minutes" and receive a dedicated feed built around that idea.

To create a feed, users tap the "+" button at the top of the Home feed, type a description, and let YouTube generate a matching stream of videos. Each feed gets its own tab at the top of the screen, and users can edit the prompt at any time using a box at the top of each feed.

As 9to5Google noted, free users can save up to three active custom feeds, while YouTube Premium members can save up to eight. The feature is rolling out first on mobile and desktop to signed-in U.S. viewers watching in English, with wider availability planned for later.

Why This Matters to Regular Users

The bottom navigation bar is prime real estate in any app. Items placed there are easy to reach with one thumb and require no thought to find. Moving Subscriptions to a top-bar tab changes how users physically interact with the app - they will need to look and tap in a different spot than they have for years.

For users who rely on the Subscriptions feed to watch videos in the order they were posted, the shift adds a small but real friction. Instead of one tap on a familiar icon, they now need to scroll or swipe across a row of tabs on the Home screen. That row will also include the new custom feeds, which could grow crowded over time.

The muscle memory built around the old layout will take time to override. Replacing it with a horizontal scroll at the top is a meaningful adjustment, even if the content itself has not changed.

The Broader Shift Toward Algorithmic Feeds

The redesign signals that YouTube is betting on AI-shaped feeds as the main way people discover and watch content, rather than the straightforward list of recent uploads from channels a person chose to follow.

Custom feeds are a middle ground between the fully algorithmic Home feed - which surfaces videos based on watch history and trends - and the purely chronological Subscriptions feed. Users write the prompt, but YouTube's systems decide which videos fill it. That means the platform still plays a role in shaping what appears, even in feeds the user nominally created.

For viewers who preferred Subscriptions precisely because it kept the algorithm out, custom feeds are not a direct substitute. They offer more control than the Home feed, but less predictability than a simple list of new uploads from followed channels.

What to Do If You Use Subscriptions Heavily

The Subscriptions feed is not going away - it is just moving. After the update, users can find it as the second tab in the top bar on the Home screen, marked with a red underline. It should still show videos from subscribed channels in reverse chronological order.

Users who want to keep easy access to that feed will need to train themselves to look up rather than down when opening the app. Pinning or bookmarking the feed is not currently an option on mobile, so building new habits is the only shortcut available.

For those curious about custom feeds, the feature is worth exploring on its own terms. Creating a feed takes seconds, and the prompt can be changed or deleted at any time. Free users have enough slots to experiment without committing to a permanent change in how they use the app.

What to Watch Next

YouTube said the custom feeds update is starting in the United States and will expand to other countries and languages over time. No specific timeline for international availability has been announced.

The rollout is also currently limited to signed-in users. Whether the new navigation layout will apply to logged-out viewers has not been confirmed. As the update spreads, user reaction to the repositioned Subscriptions tab will likely determine whether YouTube adjusts the design further or holds the new layout in place.