[Update: Available now] YouTube Music adds playlist setting to filter out liked videos from main service

Abner Li | Oct 28 2020 - 8:56 am PT

Depending on your usage habits, the close integration between YouTube and YouTube Music is either a blessing or a curse. Google is now working on a YouTube Music setting to separate liked videos.

Update 10/28: As of today, this setting is widely rolling out on both the mobile and web apps. Enabled by default, a “Your changes were saved” toast message appears after turning on/off. The preference syncs account-wide to all your devices, and applies to both official and unofficial videos that have music.

Original 10/8: One Reddit user this evening reports receiving a new option in settings (translated):

Show the music you liked from YouTube
Music videos you have “liked” in other YouTube apps will appear in the Playlist Songs you like

If enabled, music videos that you like from the main YouTube service will be included in YouTube Music’s “Your Likes” playlist. The opposite will ensure that only content given a thumbs up within the YouTube Music app will appear in that auto collection.

It’s not clear if that preference is retroactive, and whether turning off will purge all previous occurrences of liked videos appearing. Google references music videos in the option’s description, but this presumably also applies to regular videos that on occasion get classified by YouTube as music and therefore appears in the streaming service. It finally gives you the option to make sure YouTube.com does not influence YouTube Music.

The setting is not yet widely rolled out, and looks to just currently be an A/B test for a limited number of users. This should address some users’ complaints that YouTube Music is too closely tied to the parent service, and would be better as a standalone offering.