It looks like Philo is now testing a new Recent channels section in the live guide. This is not the first time that the company has tested out this exact feature, and just like the last time, it doesn’t look like subscribers are happy with the change.
Even when factoring out the cheaper price, Philo is a pretty good live TV streaming service, and its apps are generally reliable and easy to use. When it comes to the live guide, users are able to favorite the channels they like most and have them automatically surface at the top, before the All channels section.
Now, however, some Philo subscribers are finding that the Guide section not only surfaces a Favorite channels section before the full guide, but also a Recent channels section that’s positioned before their favorite channels.
While some users will probably find the availability of a dedicated ‘recent channels’ section useful, others don’t appear to like the current version, due to its positioning and lack of customization.
As the new Recent channels section is now positioned above Favorite channels, subscribers have to navigate down to get to the channels they most often watch. Adding to the issue is the lack of an ability to either disable the section or move it down below Favorite channels.
As mentioned, this is not the first time that Philo has tested this very same feature. Back in April of last year, subscribers started noticing a new Recent channels section in the Guide, and as seen in threads like this, users also found it made the live guide worse, forcing them to scroll past the section to get to the main guide.
A few weeks later, a Philo representative confirmed that the company had decided to deactivate the feature. However, a follow-up message explained that the plan was to make “a few tweaks to improve the feature in preparation for a re-release.”
While it does now seem as though the tweaked version is back in circulation, it remains to be seen what tweaks have been implemented.
In relation to the current version, and again in response to a thread of unhappy subscribers, a Philo representative confirmed that the company is “testing different browsing experiences so we can help subscribers get back to what they like to watch the most.” The same message also explains that Philo is “prioritizing customer feedback as we continue to make changes.”
While it’s currently unclear how widespread the latest test is, or whether it will end up becoming a permanent feature this time, it doesn’t appear to be in testing on all supported platforms and devices.
In other words, you may or may not see the new Recent channels change when you next open up the Philo app and head to the Guide section.
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