Pin Your Favorite Channels to the Top of the Twitch Sidebar
Tired of scrolling past hundreds of followed channels to find the streamers you actually watch every day? Sidebar Favorites pins your top channels to the very top of the sidebar - on Twitch, YouTube, and Kick - with optional custom categories and offline visibility. If you know the idea as pinned channels, this is it.
Why your sidebar needs favorites
Twitch orders your followed list by viewer count, so channels pulling tens of thousands sit at the top and the smaller ones you actually watch get pushed down. Sidebar Favorites pins the channels you choose above that list, in a section of their own.
If you follow more than a handful of channels, the Twitch sidebar becomes noise. The order is dictated by viewer count: a streamer pulling 50,000 viewers sits at the top, the small streamer you actually tune into every day is buried below the fold. Twitch's only real organization tool is the followed list itself, sorted by popularity - not by what you actually watch.
Sidebar Favorites adds a separate, dedicated list at the very top of the sidebar - reserved for the streamers you choose. It doesn't replace your followed list, it sits above it. Open Twitch and the people you actually want to watch are right there, every time.
Pinned channels, on all three platforms
A lot of people know this idea as pinned channels: a short list of the channels you always want at the top, kept separate from the long followed list that orders itself by viewer count. That is exactly what Sidebar Favorites does - and it does it on Twitch, YouTube and Kick, from one extension and one list per platform.
The list is yours to shape: pin as many channels as you want, group them into your own categories, and decide whether offline channels stay visible or drop out of sight until they go live.
How do you favorite someone on Twitch?
Twitch has no favorites feature. The followed list is ordered by viewer count and cannot be pinned or reordered, which is why there is no favorite button to find. Previews adds one: a Favorites button on every channel page that pins that channel to the top of your sidebar.
This catches a lot of people out, because most platforms have some version of it. On Twitch the closest native option is turning on notifications for a channel, which changes what you get alerted about but does nothing to where the channel appears in your sidebar.
How it works
Enable Sidebar Favorites and a Favorites button appears under every channel page, next to the bell. Click it and that channel moves into a pinned section at the top of your sidebar. Click again to remove it. Your list syncs across devices if you are signed in.
Once you install Previews and enable Sidebar Favorites, a new Favorites button appears next to the bell icon under any stream you visit. Click it and the streamer is added to your Favorites list - which now shows up pinned at the top of the sidebar.
Click the same button again to unfavorite. Your list lives in your browser (with optional cloud sync), so it survives reinstalls and follows you across devices when you sign in.
Where it works
On Twitch
The Favorites list appears at the top of the Twitch left sidebar, above your followed channels list. Click the Favorites star next to the bell under any stream to add a streamer. Updates instantly - no waiting for a refresh.
If you keep the sidebar collapsed, Previews has a companion Support Collapsed Sidebar setting that makes the favorites list still populate even without manually expanding.
On YouTube
On YouTube, the Favorites list appears above your subscribed channels in the sidebar. Add channels by clicking the Favorites button next to the like/dislike buttons under any video or live stream. Data updates every 15 minutes.
On Kick
Kick gets the same treatment as Twitch: a Favorites list at the top of the sidebar, with a Favorites button under each stream for adding channels. Data updates every 5 minutes.
Custom categories and offline visibility
Two settings turn Sidebar Favorites from a flat list into a real organizer:
- Custom categories - group your favorites however you like. "Daily watches", "Speedrunners", "Just chatting", "Friends from work" - whatever fits your viewing habits. Each category gets its own collapsible section.
- Show offline favorites - by default the list only shows live streamers. Turn this on to see everyone in your favorites at a glance, with offline channels grayed out.
- Hide originals - if you want a cleaner sidebar, you can hide a favorited streamer from the main followed list so they only appear in the favorites section (no duplicates).
How to enable it
- Install Previews from the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, or Edge Add-ons.
- Click the Previews icon in your browser's toolbar.
- In the settings panel, find Sidebar Favorite Channels under the Sidebar section. It's enabled by default.
- Refresh any open Twitch, YouTube, or Kick tab. The Favorites list will appear at the top of the sidebar.
- Visit a streamer you like and click the Favorites button (next to the bell on Twitch/Kick, next to like/dislike on YouTube).
- Optional: in Previews settings, also turn on Custom Favorites Categories if you want to group your favorites, and Auto Leave Raids if you would rather a raid sent you to one of these channels than somewhere you did not pick.
What else Previews can do for you
Sidebar Favorites is one of the features users mention most in reviews. If you watch streams regularly, you'll probably want a few of these too:
- Auto-Refresh on Twitch Errors - automatic recovery from #1000, #2000, #3000, #4000, and #5000.
- FlashBang Defender - dim the player when streamers blast a white screen at 2 AM.
- Multi-Stream - watch multiple streams side-by-side with multi-chat.
- Picture-in-Picture - pop streams into a floating window so you can keep watching while you work.
- Plus live hover previews, fast-forward, voice typing in chat, predictions sniper, and many more.
Frequently asked questions
How do I pin channels to the top of the Twitch sidebar?
Install Previews and enable Sidebar Favorites. Then visit any streamer and click the new Favorites star button next to the bell. They will appear at the top of your Twitch sidebar in a dedicated Favorites list, separate from your regular followed channels.
Is this the same as pinned channels?
Same idea, yes. Sidebar Favorites is a separate list at the very top of your sidebar holding only the channels you pick, instead of the full followed list that sorts itself by viewer count. This version adds custom categories, optional offline visibility, and works on YouTube and Kick as well as Twitch.
Can I make custom categories for my favorites?
Yes. Turn on Custom Favorites Categories in the Previews settings panel. You can create as many categories as you want and drag favorites into whichever fits - daily watches, friends, speedrunners, anything you can think of.
Can I see offline favorites in the list?
Yes. Turn on Show Offline Favorites in settings and the list will display every favorited channel, with offline ones grayed out. Useful if you want to check whether someone is live without typing their name into search.
Does Sidebar Favorites work on YouTube and Kick?
Yes. Each platform has its own Favorites list at the top of its sidebar, with the same Favorites button under each stream. The lists are independent - Twitch favorites only show on Twitch, YouTube favorites on YouTube, and Kick favorites on Kick.
Will my favorites sync across devices?
Yes. Previews has optional cloud sync for settings and favorites. Sign in from any device and your favorites list (with categories) follows you. If you do not sign in, the list is stored locally in your browser.
How is this different from following on Twitch?
Following adds a streamer to Twitch's followed channels list - which is ordered by viewer count, so popular streamers always sit on top regardless of whether you watch them. Sidebar Favorites is a separate, smaller list that only contains the streamers you explicitly mark - in the order you want, pinned at the top.
Can I import or export my favorites?
Yes. Previews supports import and export of favorites and custom categories for each platform separately, available from the settings panel. Useful for backups or for moving between browsers.