Help
FAQ
How Prisma builds your queue, what the time window is, when a video counts as watched, and how public feeds and Ideas work.
The basics
What is Prisma?
Prisma is a YouTube viewer that organizes your creators into feeds by topic (for example, Investing or Trading) and gives each one a priority from 1 to 5. With that it builds a queue of their recent videos, from most to least important, and remembers what you've already watched.
It doesn't replace YouTube: videos play in YouTube's official player. What changes is the order and the selection: you only see the people you chose.
Who is it for?
For people who follow many creators on the same topic and can't keep up with all of them. If you have 20 minutes, Prisma puts P1 creators and their latest video first.
Do I have to connect my YouTube account?
No. Prisma only reads each channel's public information (video titles, dates and lengths). It doesn't ask for access to your YouTube account or your subscriptions.
How much does it cost?
Prisma is free. It's a personal project by Jorge Avila Meléndez.
The video queue
In what order do videos appear?
First by the creator's priority (P1 before P2) and, within the same priority, from newest to oldest.
Example: A is P1 and posted 5 days ago, B is P2 and posted today, C is P1 and posted yesterday, D is P3 and posted an hour ago. The queue ends up C, A, B, D.
What is a feed's time window?
It's how many days a video stays in the queue after it was published. It counts in running hours: with a 2-day time window, a video published Monday at 8:00 leaves the queue Wednesday at 8:00.
Each feed has its own (for example, 2 days for Trading and 30 for Investing), and each creator can have their own or be evergreen, meaning it never expires.
A new feed starts with 3 days. If you want its videos to stay longer in the queue, you extend it yourself in the feed's settings.
Why is my new feed empty?
Because a new feed starts "from today": only videos your creators publish from the moment you add them come in, so you don't start with hundreds of pending videos.
If you'd rather also see what they've already published, choose "With history" when creating the feed: videos within the feed's time window come in. You can change it later in the feed's settings; switching back to "From today" restarts the queue from zero at that moment.
When is a video marked as watched?
When you reach 90% of its length: in a 10-minute video, at minute 9. You can also mark or unmark it by hand.
Watched videos leave your queue. If you stop a video halfway, next time Prisma picks up right there.
Are Shorts and live streams included?
Shorts are only included if you turn them on for that creator. Live streams and premieres are included once they end, so you can watch them in full.
How often do new videos show up?
It depends on the creator's shortest time window: every 15 minutes if it's 1 day, every hour if it's 2 to 7 days, and every 3 hours if it's longer or evergreen.
What are tags for?
To filter the queue within a feed. If you choose several tags, creators that have at least one of them are included.
Feeds and community
How do I add creators?
Paste the address of the channel or of any of its videos. To add many at once, paste several addresses, one per line: they go to "To sort", where you choose each one's feed and priority.
Can I share my feeds?
Yes. Each feed is public, shared or private. Public ones appear in Explore: anyone can see the queue, and with an account they can be followed and rated from 1 to 5 stars.
A shared feed is seen only by the people you invite by their @username: it doesn't appear in Explore or in search engines. When they accept the invitation they have it in their player and can read and reply to your Ideas.
People who follow a feed see the queue with your priority and your time window, but keep their own record of what they've watched.
What are Ideas?
They are comments the author of a feed publishes about a video, anchored to the exact minute. Tapping the minute jumps the video to that point.
Only the author publishes Ideas; people who follow the feed can reply to them. In a private feed, your Ideas are personal: only you see them. Ideas are opinions, not investment recommendations.
Can I watch Prisma on my TV?
Yes, from your smart TV's browser. Open the sign-in-on-the-TV page: a QR code appears that you scan with the phone where you're already signed in, and the TV signs in on its own, without typing your password with the remote.
On a TV, Prisma opens in TV mode: large text and buttons, controlled with the arrow keys and the OK button, with buttons to pause, skip ahead and go full screen. The code expires after 10 minutes and works only once.
Account and privacy
How do I create an account?
When registration is open, from "Create account" with your email and a password. While it's closed, Prisma works by invitation.
What data does Prisma keep?
Your name, your email, your feeds and what you've watched on Prisma (which video and up to which minute), to build your queue. They are not sold or shared with third parties for advertising; the details are in the Privacy notice.
Reviewed by Jorge Avila Meléndez on . Didn't find your answer? Write to me.