Curating the perfect playlist is practically an art form, requiring a lot of time and dedication. You meticulously arrange tracks to create a specific mood, only for the mood to be totally harsh when your last song ends and YouTube Music switches to its algorithmic radio (an autoplay feature that’s supposed to keep playing similar songs it thinks you’ll like). Now that perfect vibe of your favorite post-rock-slash-shoegaze mix is gone, and you’re stuck listening to what Google deems to be more or less the same thing. Fortunately, regaining control of this often tone-deaf algorithm is a breeze, whether you’re in the app or on your desktop.
To disable this relentless feature in the YouTube Music mobile app, start by playing any song or playlist. Tap the player at the bottom of your screen to open the “Now Playing” view. From there, swipe up to see your queue and the “Next” tab. Scroll to the bottom of your current queue and you should spot the “Autoplay” toggle. Just turn it off. Like other settings, the application will remember this preference.
The process is almost identical for desktop headphones. Open YouTube Music in your browser and expand the media player from the bottom. Make sure you’ve selected the “Up Next” tab (next to Lyrics and Related Items). Right at the top of your queue you’ll find that same autoplay switch. Turn it off and your future listening sessions will finally end at the end of your playlist, keeping the ambiance perfectly intact. This, along with ensuring you have the best audio quality on YouTube Music, is truly the way to enjoy music.
How to Make Autoplay Work for You, Not Against You
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Turning off autoplay is a great defense mechanism if you don’t want to add content to a playlist. However, this feature is not bad in itself. In fact, if you give it a little guidance, YouTube Music’s algorithm is actually pretty brilliant at surfacing new artists you might like and wonderful deep cuts. The key here, if you decide to leave the app’s endless radio feature enabled, is simply not to leave it at default. Use the app’s dynamic queue filter buttons to enhance your next listening experience. Luckily, this isn’t one of YouTube Premium’s hidden features placed behind a paywall.
To do this, let the algorithm take over then open the “Up Next” tab in the player. At the top of the screen, you’ll notice several small filter buttons, including Familiar, Popular, Discover, Deep cuts, as well as different decades and genres. Filter buttons are your best tools for steering Algorithmic Radio in a direction you’ll enjoy more. As you might expect, tapping “Familiar” is a good thing if you only want to hear songs you already know and love; Likewise, tapping “Discover” tells the algorithm to stream artists you’ve never streamed before. The best and most fun option, however, is “Deep Cuts,” which ignores popular mainstream singles in favor of lesser-known tracks from any artist’s catalog. By actively using these filters, you won’t have to worry about a potentially mood-destroying song popping up on autoplay. These filters are undoubtedly one of the elements that make YouTube Music one of the best music streaming services.
