How to Block YouTube Shorts Permanently in 2026 (4 Methods)

Can You Permanently Disable YouTube Shorts?

Short answer: not with a single setting. YouTube does not provide a built-in switch to turn off Shorts the way you'd turn off a notification. The Shorts tab at the bottom of the app cannot be removed, and Shorts will reappear in your home feed over time no matter how often you tap "Show fewer Shorts." There are, however, four methods that get you close to a Shorts-free YouTube: hide Shorts from the home feed, log out of your account, pause Watch History to stop personalized recommendations, or install ScrollGuard to block the Shorts feed entirely on your phone. Only the last one is truly permanent.

The Real Problem With YouTube Shorts

You open YouTube to watch a tutorial or catch up on a channel you follow. Simple enough. But right there on the home screen, between the videos you actually searched for, is a row of Shorts. You tap one. Just one. Twenty minutes later you're deep in an endless vertical feed of clips you never asked for.

YouTube Shorts works the same way as every other short-form video feed: an algorithm picks what to show you next, each clip is short enough that you think "just one more," and before you know it you've lost a significant chunk of time. The feed is designed to keep you scrolling, not to help you find what you came for. If Instagram is another weak spot for you, the parallel guide on blocking Instagram Reels uses the same "remove the feed, keep the app" logic — and so does blocking the TikTok For You feed.

The good news is you don't need to uninstall YouTube. Here are three ways to reduce or block Shorts while keeping the rest of the app working normally. If you want the broader behavioral context, our posts on why TikTok is so addictive and the best apps to stop doomscrolling go deeper.

Method 1: Hide Shorts From the Home Feed

YouTube's home feed includes a Shorts shelf between regular video recommendations. You can tell YouTube to show you fewer of them directly from that section.

How to do it

1. Open YouTube and scroll your home feed until you see the Shorts section.
2. Tap the three dots (⋮) in the top-right corner of the Shorts section.
3. Tap "Show fewer Shorts".

What it actually does

This tells YouTube's algorithm that you're less interested in Shorts. Over time, you should see fewer Shorts shelves on your home feed. However, it doesn't eliminate them entirely. YouTube will still show some Shorts in your feed, and the dedicated Shorts tab at the bottom of the app remains fully accessible. One tap and you're right back in the infinite scroll.

Method 2: Log Out of Your YouTube Account

YouTube's home feed is entirely powered by your watch history and account activity. When you're signed out, the app has no data to build recommendations from, so the home feed won't show you any personalized content at all, including Shorts. The trade-off is that you also lose access to your subscriptions, so you'll need to search explicitly for every video you want to watch.

How to do it

1. Open YouTube and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.
2. Tap your account name.
3. Select "Use YouTube signed out".

What it actually does

When you're signed out, YouTube can't use your watch history or preferences to build a personalized feed. The home screen won't recommend anything to you, which means no personalized Shorts pulling you in. You'll need to actively search for what you want to watch.

However, the Shorts tab at the bottom still works. If you tap it, you'll see a generic Shorts feed. And since you're signed out, you lose access to your subscriptions, playlists, watch history, and any other account features. Every video you want to watch requires a manual search.

Method 3: Pause Watch History to Cut Personalized Shorts

YouTube uses your watch history to decide which Shorts to recommend. When watch history is paused, the algorithm has no fresh signal to work with, so the home feed and Shorts shelf both lose most of their personalization. You stay logged in, you keep your subscriptions, but the engagement bait gets a lot weaker.

How to do it

1. Open YouTube and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.
2. Tap Your data in YouTube.
3. Tap YouTube Watch History, then Turn off.
4. Optionally, also turn off YouTube Search History on the same screen for a stronger effect.

What it actually does

With Watch History paused, YouTube cannot build a personalized recommendation surface from your activity. The home feed becomes much more generic, and the Shorts shelf shows broadly trending content rather than the personalized hook it normally serves. The Shorts tab still works, and tapping into it still pulls up a generic trending Shorts feed, but the autopilot pull from the home page is significantly weaker.

The cost is that you also lose recommendation quality across the rest of YouTube. "Up next" suggestions, your home feed, and the discovery surface all become less useful. If you primarily use YouTube via subscriptions and search, this trade-off is reasonable; if you rely on the algorithm to surface new channels, this is a heavy hit.

Method 4: Use ScrollGuard to Block Shorts on Your Phone

If you want to keep YouTube fully functional, stay signed in, and still block Shorts, ScrollGuard is built exactly for this.

How it works

ScrollGuard is a freemium app available on both iPhone and Android. Instead of blocking the entire YouTube app, it targets only the addictive parts. You choose exactly what to block. If you are on iPhone, see our dedicated guide on how to block YouTube Shorts on iPhone for the platform-specific setup:

• Block the Shorts feed so it's no longer accessible when you tap the Shorts tab
• Block Shorts in the home feed so they don't appear as you browse
• Keep everything else working: subscriptions, search, playlists, comments, and full-length videos

You stay signed in, you keep your subscriptions, and you remove the part that wastes your time. No trade-offs.

Check the available features per platform. If you want a broader reset beyond YouTube, how to make your phone less addictive in 15 minutes is the practical next step.

Which Method Is Right for You?

It depends on how much control you need and what you're willing to give up.

If you just want a quick reduction, Method 1 takes seconds and costs nothing. If you mostly use YouTube via subscriptions and search, pausing Watch History (Method 3) is a free middle ground that significantly weakens personalized Shorts. If you want a complete solution while keeping YouTube fully functional on your phone, ScrollGuard is the only option that permanently blocks Shorts without sacrificing your subscriptions or account features.

How to Block YouTube Shorts on Android

On Android, ScrollGuard uses the Accessibility Service to detect when you tap into the Shorts tab or when a Short surfaces in your home feed, and it automatically redirects you back. The setup takes about a minute:

1. Install ScrollGuard from Google Play. The core feed-blocking features are free.
2. Grant the Accessibility Service permission when ScrollGuard asks for it on first launch. This is what lets the app detect when you've landed on the Shorts feed.
3. Turn on YouTube in ScrollGuard's list of supported apps and enable the Shorts blocks. You can choose to block the Shorts tab, Shorts in the home feed, or both.
4. Open YouTube normally. Subscriptions, search, comments, and full-length videos all work as before. The Shorts feed is the only thing that stops working.

The Shorts tab still appears in the UI, but tapping it bounces you out, so the infinite-scroll trigger is neutralized. The same Android setup also blocks Reels and TikTok if you toggle those apps on inside ScrollGuard.

On iPhone the approach is different because iOS sandboxes apps. The companion guide on how to block YouTube Shorts on iPhone walks through the Safari extension and Apple Shortcuts automation needed on iOS.