Discovering how to disable YouTube Shorts can streamline your viewing experience, allowing for a more traditional and focused consumption of video content. The platform's aggressive push toward vertical, music-driven clips has led many regular users to seek methods for removing this prominent feature from their feed. This guide provides clear, step-by-step instructions for effectively hiding Shorts across various devices and platforms.
Why Disable YouTube Shorts?
The primary motivation for learning how to disable YouTube Shorts is to reclaim a browsing environment that aligns with your specific interests. While Shorts are designed for quick engagement, they can sometimes dominate the homepage and suggestion algorithms, pushing aside long-form content you actively subscribe to. By removing this element, you reduce distractions and restore a feed that feels personalized to your documented watch history.
Disabling Shorts on the YouTube Homepage
On the main feed of the YouTube application, you will notice a dedicated "Shorts" tab located directly below the search bar. This tab acts as a filter, continuously loading new vertical content. To hide this stream, you simply need to tap on this tab and select the "Remove" or "X" icon that appears. This action hides the Shorts feed from your homepage, though it does not prevent you from searching for or watching Shorts manually if you choose to do so in the future.
Managing the Subscriptions Feed
Even after hiding the main Shorts tab, you might notice Shorts appearing interspersed within the video feeds of channels you subscribe to. This occurs because the algorithm treats Shorts as standard uploads from creators you follow. To address this, hover over any Short that appears in your subscription feed. You should see three vertical dots appear in the top right corner; clicking this will give you the option to "Hide shorts" from your subscription recommendations, effectively filtering them out of your main viewing queue.
How to Disable Shorts on Mobile Devices
The process for mobile users focuses heavily on the in-app experience, as the mobile version of the website does not offer a direct URL parameter to disable the feature. If you are using an iOS or Android device, open the YouTube application and navigate to the Account tab. From there, you will access Settings and look for the "General" or "Preferences" section. While the exact labeling can vary, look for an option related to "Shorts" or "Experimental Features" where you can toggle the visibility of these videos off.
Limitations of Mobile Settings
It is important to note that the mobile application settings are often less granular than the desktop version. Currently, there is no official setting to completely remove the Shorts creation interface or the bottom navigation bar that promotes Shorts. The primary method remains the manual hiding of individual Shorts videos using the three-dot menu, which trains the algorithm to reduce their appearance in your personalized feed over time.
Browser Extensions and Workarounds
For users on desktop browsers seeking a more permanent solution, the community has developed specific tools to enforce a traditional viewing experience. Extensions available for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox can filter out Shorts automatically, allowing you to browse YouTube as it appeared before the format became ubiquitous. When selecting an extension, prioritize those with high user ratings and transparent privacy policies to ensure your data remains secure.
Considerations for Extension Use
While extensions are effective, they require installation and periodic maintenance to remain compatible with YouTube's frequent interface updates. Some extensions work by hiding the UI elements that load Shorts, rather than blocking the video files themselves. Users should be aware that modifying the core functionality of a website via extensions may occasionally lead to unexpected glitches, so it is wise to test the extension on a secondary browser profile before committing to it as your primary tool.
