Setting Your Interests for a Better Feed
The topics you choose on Whistlr shape almost everything you see, from the Minis that load first to the posts that surface in Discover. Setting your interests takes only a minute, but it makes a noticeable difference in how relevant your feed feels from the very first session. This article covers how to choose interests, how to update them later, and why being specific pays off.
Choosing Interests During Onboarding
When you first create your Whistlr account, you'll be shown a grid of topic categories like music, gaming, sports, comedy, fashion, food, fitness, and dozens of others. Tap each topic that genuinely interests you — there's no limit on how many you can select, though choosing a focused handful tends to produce a more useful starting feed than selecting nearly everything. Once you've made your selections, tap "Continue" to move into the app, where your Discover and Minis tabs will already reflect your choices.
How Interests Shape Your Feed
Your selected interests act as a starting point for what Whistlr shows you across Discover and Minis. Content tagged with topics you picked is more likely to appear early in your sessions, especially before you've built up much watch or engagement history. As you continue using the app — watching Minis to the end, liking posts, following creators, spending time in certain Pods — your feed gradually adjusts to reflect what you actually engage with, layering on top of your initial interest selections rather than replacing them outright.
Interests aren't a one-time setting. Tastes change, and Whistlr expects yours will too. Whether you've picked up a new hobby, started following a sport, or simply want to clear out topics that no longer fit, updating your interests takes just a few taps and immediately starts influencing what you see next.
Updating Your Interests Later
Go to Settings > Preferences > Interests to see your full list of selected topics. Tap any topic to remove it, or tap "Add Interests" to browse the complete category list and select new ones. Changes save automatically and begin influencing your Discover and Minis recommendations right away — there's no need to restart the app or wait for an update cycle. You can revisit this screen as often as you like.
- Be Specific: Choosing "indie rock" instead of just "music" helps Whistlr understand what you actually want to see.
- Pick What You'll Actually Watch: Interests work best when they reflect content you'll genuinely stop and engage with.
- Revisit Often: Update your list whenever a new hobby or curiosity takes hold.
- Remove Stale Topics: Clearing out interests you've outgrown keeps your feed from feeling outdated.
- Combine With Follows: Following creators in a topic area reinforces your interest selections even further.
A feed only feels worth opening when it reflects who you actually are — taking a minute to set your interests is the simplest way to make Whistlr feel like it was built for you specifically.
Being specific matters more than being exhaustive. Selecting a broad, generic set of interests tends to produce a generic feed, while a smaller set of precise topics — particular genres, specific sports, niche hobbies — gives Whistlr a much clearer signal to work from. If your feed ever feels off, the Interests screen is usually the fastest place to start making it feel right again, alongside simply engaging with the content you genuinely enjoy and skipping past what you don't.