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Hulu is giving users much better control over recommendations and watch history

Hulu is giving users much better control over recommendations and watch history

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And a simpler, more traditional live TV guide is coming to mobile

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Hulu is launching a refresh of its mobile app over the next week. The update will give subscribers finer control over the way the streaming service presents recommendations and suggested shows. Users will be able to tell Hulu to stop suggesting content they have zero interest in watching. “You’ll be able to tell us when our recommendations in your Home experience don’t hit the mark,” Richard Irving, Hulu’s VP of product, said in a blog post. “By selecting this action, you’ll remove the series, movie or sports league from being recommended to you again.”

If you want to go a step further, now you’ll be able to remove items from your viewing history, too. When that happens, Hulu’s recommendation engine will essentially forget that you — or “someone using your profile” — ever watched the show or movie in question. Netflix already has this feature (which I somehow never realized), so it’s nice to see Hulu implementing it. You’ll be able to remove shows when they show up in “keep watching” in the Home tab, or directly from your Watch History section.

Hulu’s also adding a portrait player, so you don’t always have to watch the service in landscape. The app now supports HDMI output for iOS devices and offers an “enhanced” Chromecast experience.

There are also several improvements for Hulu’s live TV customers. On its mobile apps, Hulu is introducing a new icon in the main navigation bar that immediately takes you to live TV on the last channel you had on. The straightforward, more traditional programming guide that’s already available on Hulu’s TV apps is now coming to smartphones as well. The company also says it’s rolling out the revamped desktop web experience to all live TV subscribers next week; the rest of Hulu’s subscribers will get it over the summer.