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How to Disable YouTube Shorts: What You Can—and Can’t—Turn Off

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YouTube’s closest official option is to set the Shorts feed limit to 0 minutes in the mobile app. That can stop ordinary Shorts-feed scrolling and may remove the Shorts shelf from Home, but it is not a permanent, universal block: individual Shorts can still appear elsewhere or open from a direct link. If you need to prevent access rather than make Shorts harder to reach, you’ll need additional browser or device restrictions.

These instructions reflect YouTube’s controls as of August 2026. Availability and labels can vary by account and app version.

Set the Shorts feed limit to 0 minutes

In the YouTube mobile app, the zero-minute limit is the most direct built-in way to interrupt Shorts scrolling. YouTube announced the zero-minute option on June 25, 2026; its help page describes the Shorts feed limit.

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  1. Open the YouTube app and sign in to the account you want to change.
  2. Tap your profile picture, then tap the Settings gear.
  3. Open Time management, then Shorts feed limit.
  4. Enable the limit if prompted and choose 0 minutes.

When the limit is reached, YouTube can pause Shorts-feed scrolling and show a notice. Depending on what the app offers, you may be able to dismiss or ignore that notice, so this is a friction measure rather than an unbreakable lock. The Home shelf may also take a moment to update; close and reopen the app if it remains visible.

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The setting limits use of the Shorts feed; it does not delete Shorts from YouTube. Shorts may still appear in search, recommendations, subscriptions, channel pages, notifications, shared links, or embedded players. It also applies to the signed-in account, not automatically to every account or device.

If the 0-minute choice is missing

YouTube’s feature rollout has been gradual, and the available choices can depend on account, region, platform, app version, or an interface experiment. Older app versions may show a higher minimum, such as 15 minutes. Update YouTube through the official app store, confirm you are using the intended account, then check Settings → Time management → Shorts feed limit again. Updating may help, but it cannot guarantee that the option has reached your account.

If it is still unavailable, use the recommendation controls below as an interim step. They can reduce exposure, but they do not switch off the Shorts format.

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Reduce Shorts recommendations

Choose “Show fewer Shorts”

  1. Open the YouTube app’s Home feed and find a Shorts shelf or grid.
  2. Tap the More menu at the top of that Shorts section.
  3. Choose Show fewer Shorts.

This tells YouTube to show fewer Shorts recommendations; it is not a permanent block. To undo the feedback, open My Activity, look under Other activity or Other Google activity, find “Show fewer Shorts”, and delete that response. Menu names can vary. YouTube documents both the recommendation control and how to manage it in its recommendation help.

Give feedback on particular Shorts or channels

For an unwanted Short, open its More menu and select Not interested. If the same channel keeps appearing, choose Don’t recommend channel where that option is available. These actions influence recommendations, but they do not remove the Shorts tab, block every creator’s Shorts, or prevent a direct link from opening.

Turn off watch or search history only if the trade-off suits you

YouTube’s history controls can reduce the role watch or search activity plays in personalization. They do not ban Shorts, and recommendations may become less useful for ordinary videos too. Treat this as a broad personalization change, not a Shorts switch.

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What desktop users can do

The official zero-minute control is documented as a mobile-app setting; there is no verified universal desktop setting in YouTube’s supplied controls that removes Shorts from every part of the website. Shorts can remain on Home, in subscriptions and search, on channel pages, in sidebars, and at direct URLs.

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On a desktop browser, a content blocker or YouTube-customization extension may hide Shorts shelves, navigation links, search results, or Shorts URLs. These are third-party workarounds, not permanent YouTube controls. They may need separate setup in each browser and on each device, can break when YouTube changes its interface, and may interfere with normal YouTube features. Before installing one, check its publisher, permissions, update history, and privacy policy. Do not assume that hiding a link prevents someone from opening a direct Shorts URL.

Stronger barriers on Android and iPhone

Android

You can use YouTube in a browser instead of the app and apply a browser filter where supported. You can also remove or disable the YouTube app if your device allows it, or use Android’s app timers and parental controls as additional friction. Exact settings and names vary by Android version and manufacturer. Browser filtering affects that browser; it does not automatically control Shorts inside the YouTube app.

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iPhone and iPad

The 0-minute limit is the cleanest in-app option. A Safari content blocker or another browser may filter YouTube in that browser, but ordinary browser extensions do not universally modify the native YouTube app. Apple Screen Time can limit YouTube as a whole app or restrict its use; it does not selectively remove Shorts from within it. A Short opened from a message, notification, or link may still be accessible unless YouTube itself blocks it.

For parents: treat the limit as a safeguard, not a lock

A zero-minute limit can make casual scrolling less convenient, but a child may be able to bypass the prompt or reach Shorts through another surface. For stronger supervision, use a supervised Google or YouTube account where available and combine it with the device’s parental controls. If strict enforcement matters, also consider whether the child can install alternate browsers or apps. Test search, subscriptions, shared links, signed-out browsing, and any other accounts on the device. If the child must not access short-form video at all, restricting YouTube entirely is more dependable—but it also blocks regular YouTube videos.

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Choose the right level of restriction

Goal Best starting point Important limitation
Make Shorts harder to scroll on mobile Set the Shorts feed limit to 0 minutes Not an unbreakable block; other Shorts surfaces may remain
See fewer Shorts recommendations Use Show fewer Shorts, Not interested, and Don’t recommend channel Recommendation feedback is not a format-wide ban
Hide Shorts on desktop Consider a carefully vetted browser filter or extension Third-party, browser-specific, and potentially breakable
Reduce access on a child’s device Combine account supervision with device parental controls Needs testing and ongoing supervision
Prevent all YouTube short-form access Restrict YouTube itself Also blocks ordinary videos and may be inconvenient
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Why Shorts may still show up

A setting can work as intended on one surface and leave others unchanged. Check these common cases before assuming the limit failed:

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  • Home shelf: It may take an app restart to refresh.
  • Subscriptions, search, channel pages, or recommendations: The feed limit is not a site-wide removal setting.
  • Shared links, notifications, or embeds: Opening a Short directly is different from scrolling the feed.
  • Another account or signed-out browsing: Preferences may not carry across accounts or sessions.
  • Browser versus app: A browser filter does not necessarily affect the native app, and vice versa.

Does YouTube Premium remove Shorts?

Do not buy Premium expecting it to disable Shorts. The controls documented here do not establish Premium as a Shorts-removal feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 0-minute limit work on desktop?

The documented zero-minute Shorts feed limit is a mobile-app control. Desktop users can reduce recommendations or consider a third-party browser filter, but neither is a verified universal site-wide switch.

Can I block Shorts without deleting YouTube?

You can make Shorts harder to reach with the mobile zero-minute limit, recommendation feedback, and browser or device controls. YouTube’s official controls do not guarantee that every Short is inaccessible.

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Can a child bypass the Shorts limit?

The limit is not an unbreakable parental control. Combine it with account supervision and device restrictions, and test the routes the child can access.

Will turning off watch history remove Shorts?

No. History settings can affect personalization, but they do not disable the Shorts format and may also make regular recommendations less useful.

Can I still open a Short from a direct link?

Yes, a direct link may still open because the zero-minute setting limits Shorts-feed use rather than blocking all Shorts URLs.

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