How to Disable YouTube Shorts: What YouTube Allows
If you’re asking “how can I disable YouTube Shorts for good?”, the answer for your own account is that you can’t. YouTube documents no setting that turns Shorts off or removes the Shorts tab, on a phone or a computer. Checked against YouTube Help: Set a Shorts feed limit (and Manage your recommendations & search results)Not verified You can cut them down, though, and parents can stop the Shorts feed on a supervised account.
Below are the controls YouTube documents, what each one really does and where it works. If you make Shorts rather than avoid them, our guide to growing a YouTube channel is the better starting point.
Table of Contents
- How can I disable YouTube Shorts on my own account?
- How do you set the Shorts feed limit to zero?
- How do you see fewer Shorts on your Home feed?
- Can you turn off YouTube Shorts on a PC?
- Can parents block Shorts on a child’s account?
- Can a scheduling app hide Shorts for you?
- Turning off Shorts: quick answers
How can I disable YouTube Shorts on my own account?
Not with one switch. You stack controls that cut Shorts down, and only one of them, a parent’s limit on a supervised account, actually stops the Shorts feed.
| Control | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Shorts feed limit | YouTube app: You, Settings, Time management | Shows a reminder when your daily time in the Shorts feed hits the limit, which can be zero; you can dismiss or ignore it Checked against YouTube Help: Set a Shorts feed limit |
| Show fewer Shorts | YouTube app: a grid of Shorts on Home | Fewer Shorts recommended, not none Checked against YouTube Help: Manage your recommendations & search results |
| Not interested, Don’t recommend channel | The More menu beside an item (YouTube’s steps are for a computer) | Feedback that may be used to tune your recommendations Checked against YouTube Help: Manage your recommendations & search results |
| Watch history off | My Activity, Controls | Removes features such as Home recommendations if you have no significant recent history; YouTube doesn’t say it removes Shorts Checked against YouTube Help: View, delete, or turn on or off watch history |
| Supervised Shorts feed limit | Family Center, Time management (set by a parent) | Once reached, the child can’t scroll the Shorts feed for the rest of the day Checked against YouTube Help: Teen supervision features in Family Center |
Apps or browser add-ons that claim to strip Shorts out aren’t YouTube settings, so they aren’t covered here.
How do you set the Shorts feed limit to zero?
In the YouTube app, go to You, then Settings, Time management and Shorts feed limit, and pick zero from the list of time limits. YouTube’s steps are for the app only; it gives none for a computer.
On any device: YouTube app:
- Sign in to the YouTube app.
- Tap on the You tab, then Settings.
- Tap Time management.
- Tap Shorts feed limit. You will be prompted with a list of time limits, including the option to set your Shorts feed limit to zero.
- Select your time limit.
Checked against YouTube Help: Set a Shorts feed limit.
The catch: when your limit is reached in the Shorts feed, a reminder appears, and YouTube gives you “an option to dismiss or ignore your set limit”. On your own account, zero is a nudge, not a lock. That can still help if the app keeps pulling you into Shorts: the reminder is a prompt to stop. If the app opens straight onto Shorts, there’s no fix in the settings either: YouTube documents no setting that chooses which tab the app opens on. Checked against YouTube Help: Set a Shorts feed limit (and Manage your recommendations & search results)Not verified
How do you see fewer Shorts on your Home feed?
Tap More at the top of a grid of Shorts on your Home feed in the YouTube app and choose Show fewer Shorts. It means fewer, not none: YouTube describes no option that removes Shorts from Home. If you change your mind, delete the choice in My Activity.
On any device: YouTube app:
- On the YouTube app, go to your Home feed.
- Scroll to a grid of Shorts.
- At the top of the grid, tap More.
- Tap Show fewer Shorts.
On any device: Clear the choice (My Activity):
- Go to My Activity.
- Find and select Other activity in the left-hand menu or under the My Activity banner.
- Under “Show fewer Shorts,” select Delete.
Checked against YouTube Help: Manage your recommendations & search results.
For Shorts you don’t want, YouTube’s own pointer is “Not Interested” and “Don’t recommend this channel”: the controls it said it would rely on when it began rolling out a Shorts player without a dislike button on 25 June 2026. Checked against YouTube Official Blog: How we're updating the YouTube Shorts experience (25 Jun 2026)
Can you turn off YouTube Shorts on a PC?
No setting does it. YouTube documents its two Shorts controls, the feed limit and Show fewer Shorts, for the YouTube app. On a computer, what’s left is feedback on individual items and your watch history. Use Not interested on a video you don’t want, or Don’t recommend channel on a video, Short or post from a channel you’ve had enough of:
On a computer: Not interested:
- Click More next to the title of the video, playlist, post, or section on Home.
- Click Not interested.
- If it's a video, click Tell us why to share why you're not interested. You can select I've already watched the video or I don't like the video.
On a computer: Don't recommend channel:
- On certain pages, such as your Home and Watch Next pages, find a video, Short, or post from a channel that you don't want recommended to you.
- Click More next to the title of the video, Short, or post.
- Select Don't recommend channel or Don't recommend posts from channel.
On a computer: Clear the feedback:
- Go to My Activity. You might need to sign in to your Google Account.
- Find Other Google activity in the left-hand menu or under the My Activity banner.
- Select YouTube 'Not interested' feedback, then select Delete.
Checked against YouTube Help: Manage your recommendations & search results.
YouTube says this feedback “may be used to tune your recommendations”, so treat it as a hint to YouTube, not a filter.
Turning off watch history goes further on Home. If you delete and turn off your history and have no significant recent history, YouTube removes features such as recommendations on the homepage. It doesn’t say that removes Shorts or the Shorts tab.
On a computer: Pause watch history:
- Go to My Activity.
- Sign in to your Google Account.
- On the left sidebar, click the Controls tab.
- Select Turn off.
Checked against YouTube Help: View, delete, or turn on or off watch history.
For a broader clean-up of what YouTube recommends, see how to reset the YouTube algorithm.
Can parents block Shorts on a child’s account?
Yes, on a supervised account. A parent sets a daily Shorts feed limit for a supervised teen or kid account in Family Center, under Time management. Once it’s reached, the child can’t scroll the Shorts feed for the rest of the day, and the limit resets every morning. It’s the only Shorts limit YouTube documents that blocks the feed rather than reminding.
On any device: Family Center (parent's linked account):
- In the Family Center, select your teen's account.
- Choose Time management.
- From the "Time management" tab, set the daily Shorts feed limit.
Checked against YouTube Help: Teen supervision features in Family Center.
On zero, YouTube Help’s teen supervision page still reads: “Starting in March 2026, parents will have the option to set the daily Shorts feed limit to zero.” The YouTube Official Blog said on 20 April 2026 that parents across Europe can now set it to zero minutes “to turn the feed off entirely”. Checked against YouTube Official Blog: Helping families across Europe build healthy digital habits (20 Apr 2026) Check the options Family Center shows you. Kid accounts use the same Family Center steps, which a parent reaches in the YouTube app from You, then Settings, then Family Center, with the linked parent account.
Uploading Shorts rather than hiding them? Here’s how to upload a YouTube Short.
Can a scheduling app hide Shorts for you?
See what Outfeed AI does for YouTube creators
Turning off Shorts: quick answers
Can you turn off YouTube Shorts completely?
Not on your own account. YouTube documents no setting that turns Shorts off or removes the Shorts tab, on a phone or a computer. Its controls reduce Shorts instead: a Shorts feed limit in the YouTube app that can be set to zero but shows a reminder you can dismiss, Show fewer Shorts, and Not interested feedback. Only a parent’s limit on a supervised account stops the Shorts feed.
How do I set my YouTube Shorts feed limit to zero?
In the YouTube app, tap the You tab, then Settings, Time management and Shorts feed limit, and choose zero from the list of time limits. When the limit is reached in the Shorts feed, YouTube shows a reminder that you can dismiss or ignore, so on your own account it works as a nudge rather than a lock.
How do I turn off YouTube Shorts on a PC?
There’s no setting for it. YouTube documents its two Shorts controls, the Shorts feed limit and Show fewer Shorts, for the YouTube app. On a computer you can use Not interested, choose Don’t recommend channel on a channel’s video, Short or post, or turn off your watch history, which YouTube says removes features such as Home recommendations when you have no significant recent history. YouTube doesn’t say any of these removes Shorts.
Can parents block YouTube Shorts on a child’s account?
On a supervised teen or kid account, a parent can set a daily Shorts feed limit in Family Center under Time management. Once it’s reached, the child can’t scroll the Shorts feed for the rest of the day, and the limit resets every morning. YouTube Help’s teen supervision page says parents get the option to set the limit to zero starting in March 2026, and the YouTube Official Blog said on 20 April 2026 that a zero limit is available across Europe.
Why do Shorts come back after I tap Not interested?
Because the feedback tunes recommendations rather than blocking anything. YouTube says Not interested and Don’t recommend channel feedback may be used to tune your recommendations, and Show fewer Shorts means fewer, not none: YouTube describes no option that removes Shorts from Home.