[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":197},["ShallowReactive",2],{"content:\u002Fblock-youtube-shorts":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":165,"extension":166,"meta":167,"navigation":191,"path":192,"seo":193,"stem":195,"__hash__":196},"content\u002Fblock-youtube-shorts.md","How to Block YouTube Shorts (Every Method)",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":152},"minimark",[9,13,16,21,26,29,55,58,62,69,73,76,80,83,87,90,93,126,129,133,136,145],[10,11,12],"p",{},"If you've gone looking for a way to turn off YouTube Shorts, you've probably already found the honest problem: there isn't a switch for it. Not a hidden one, not one buried three menus deep -- YouTube simply doesn't ship a \"Shorts: off\" setting, on any version of the app, for any kind of account. What it does offer is a set of softer, adjacent controls that reduce how often Shorts show up, and it's worth knowing exactly what those controls do before deciding whether they're enough.",[10,14,15],{},"We'll walk through what's actually available on each surface -- the main app, desktop, YouTube Kids, and a Family Link supervised account -- because \"there's no real setting\" is a claim worth backing up with the specifics, not asserting and moving on. Then we'll get into why none of it adds up to a durable block, and what a different kind of app looks like when it simply never had a Shorts feed to begin with.",[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"how-to-reduce-youtube-shorts-what-actually-exists","How to reduce YouTube Shorts (what actually exists)",[22,23,25],"h3",{"id":24},"on-the-youtube-app-iphone-ipad-and-android","On the YouTube app (iPhone, iPad, and Android)",[10,27,28],{},"The Shorts shelf -- the horizontally scrolling row of short vertical videos that shows up on the Home feed, and the Shorts tab in the bottom navigation bar -- has one real lever: recommendation feedback.",[30,31,32,36,44],"ol",{},[33,34,35],"li",{},"Find a Short in the Shorts shelf or in the Shorts tab itself.",[33,37,38,39,43],{},"Tap and hold on it, or tap the three-dot ",[40,41,42],"strong",{},"More"," icon if it's showing.",[33,45,46,47,50,51,54],{},"Select ",[40,48,49],{},"Not interested",", or ",[40,52,53],{},"Tell us why"," for a more specific reason (too many of a certain creator, category, and so on).",[10,56,57],{},"This reduces how often similar Shorts appear in that shelf, for that signed-in account, for a while. It is not a block. The Shorts tab itself stays in the bottom navigation permanently -- there's no setting to remove or hide it -- and a child can still open it directly at any time, whatever recommendation feedback you've given.",[22,59,61],{"id":60},"on-youtubecom-desktop-or-laptop","On youtube.com (desktop or laptop)",[10,63,64,65,68],{},"The desktop site has the same Shorts shelf on the homepage and its own ",[40,66,67],{},"Shorts"," entry in the left sidebar. The same \"Not interested\" \u002F \"Tell us why\" feedback is available on individual Shorts here too, with the same limits: it thins out what gets recommended, it doesn't remove the Shorts sidebar link, and it's tied to the signed-in account rather than the browser or device.",[22,70,72],{"id":71},"on-youtube-kids","On YouTube Kids",[10,74,75],{},"This is the surface where parents most expect a dedicated control, and it's the one that has the least. YouTube Kids' parental settings offer an age-based content level and, separately, an \"Approved content only\" mode that restricts playback to videos and channels a parent has specifically added. Neither of these settings is aware of Shorts as a distinct format. A short vertical video that fits the chosen content level plays exactly like a longer video that fits it -- there is no toggle, slider, or setting anywhere in YouTube Kids that specifically targets short-form video.",[22,77,79],{"id":78},"on-a-supervised-account-family-link","On a supervised account (Family Link)",[10,81,82],{},"Family Link's YouTube controls work the same way here: a content restriction tier (Explore, Explore More, Most of YouTube, or Approved content only) filters by maturity level, not by video length or format. A Short that clears whatever tier you've set plays the same as anything else that clears it. There is no Shorts-specific setting inside Family Link's YouTube management screen, the same as there is none inside YouTube Kids.",[17,84,86],{"id":85},"what-not-interested-on-a-short-doesnt-do","What \"Not interested\" on a Short doesn't do",[10,88,89],{},"The recommendation-feedback option above is the entire toolkit for reducing Shorts on the main app and on desktop, and it's worth being specific about its limits, because a parent who thinks it's a block will be caught off guard the first time Shorts show up again anyway.",[10,91,92],{},"It does not:",[94,95,96,102,108,114,120],"ul",{},[33,97,98,101],{},[40,99,100],{},"Remove the Shorts tab."," The bottom-navigation Shorts tab is permanent on every account type on the main app. Feedback signals affect what plays inside it and in the Home shelf, not whether it exists.",[33,103,104,107],{},[40,105,106],{},"Stop a search."," Searching a topic still returns Shorts results mixed in with long-form video, the same as it always did.",[33,109,110,113],{},[40,111,112],{},"Carry across accounts or devices."," Recommendation feedback is tied to the signed-in Google account it was given on. A shared tablet, a sibling's login, or a guest session starts from scratch.",[33,115,116,119],{},[40,117,118],{},"Last indefinitely."," YouTube's recommendation system re-learns constantly. \"Not interested\" thins out a category for a while; it doesn't hold that line forever without repeating it.",[33,121,122,125],{},[40,123,124],{},"Apply to YouTube Kids at all."," As covered above, there is no equivalent feedback mechanism there in the first place -- nothing to tap, nothing to reduce.",[10,127,128],{},"None of this is a flaw exactly -- Shorts is YouTube's direct answer to TikTok and Instagram Reels, and for a platform competing hard for short-form attention, a durable, parent-facing off switch would work against the feature's entire purpose. That's a reasonable thing for YouTube to prioritize as a business. It's also a reasonable thing for a parent to decide isn't good enough, which is the more useful question underneath \"how do I block Shorts\" anyway.",[17,130,132],{"id":131},"the-fix-that-skips-the-setting-entirely","The fix that skips the setting entirely",[10,134,135],{},"Here's the difference worth naming plainly: on YouTube, in any of its forms, Shorts is a feature you have to work around, because the app is built to surface more of it. ChannelKeep isn't a version of YouTube with Shorts switched off -- it's an app that was never built with a Shorts feed, a swipe-to-the-next-video surface, or a discovery mechanism of any kind. There's no setting to disable because there's nothing in the interface that would ever render a short-form video feed to begin with. A parent chooses the specific videos their child can watch, and that's the entire library -- there's no adjacent shelf, no \"you might also like,\" no tab labeled Shorts sitting one swipe away.",[10,137,138,139,144],{},"This is the same underlying idea as ",[140,141,143],"a",{"href":142},"\u002Fblock-youtube-channels","blocking a YouTube channel"," that keeps resurfacing under a new name: trying to subtract one piece out of an app built to keep surfacing more of everything is a losing structure, whether the piece in question is a channel or a whole video format. The alternative isn't a stronger block setting. It's an app with nothing left to block.",[10,146,147,151],{},[140,148,150],{"href":149},"\u002F","See how ChannelKeep works"," if that's the shape of fix you've been looking for.",{"title":153,"searchDepth":154,"depth":154,"links":155},"",2,[156,163,164],{"id":19,"depth":154,"text":20,"children":157},[158,160,161,162],{"id":24,"depth":159,"text":25},3,{"id":60,"depth":159,"text":61},{"id":71,"depth":159,"text":72},{"id":78,"depth":159,"text":79},{"id":85,"depth":154,"text":86},{"id":131,"depth":154,"text":132},"What actually reduces YouTube Shorts on phone, desktop and YouTube Kids -- including what does not stick -- plus the one place Shorts do not exist.","md",{"h1":168,"layout":169,"datePublished":170,"dateModified":171,"faq":172},"How to block YouTube Shorts","article","2026-07-29","2026-08-07T18:34:21+01:00",[173,176,179,182,185,188],{"question":174,"answer":175},"Is there a setting that turns off YouTube Shorts for good?","No, not anywhere in YouTube. Not on the main app, not on youtube.com, not in YouTube Kids, and not in a Family Link supervised account. The closest thing is recommendation feedback that temporarily thins out the Shorts shelf, and it fades over time and doesn't touch the Shorts tab itself.",{"question":177,"answer":178},"Does YouTube Kids have a way to hide Shorts specifically?","No. YouTube Kids' parental controls set an age-based content level and, separately, an approved-content-only mode -- neither one targets Shorts as a format. A short vertical video and a ten-minute video are treated the same way by those settings; whichever passes the content level plays, Shorts included.",{"question":180,"answer":181},"Why doesn't tapping \"Not interested\" on a Short remove the Shorts tab?","Because it's feedback to the recommendation algorithm, not a setting. It tells YouTube to show fewer videos like that one for a while. It doesn't remove the Shorts tab from the bottom navigation bar, doesn't stop Shorts from a search, and doesn't survive a signed-out session or a different device.",{"question":183,"answer":184},"Will restricting content by age in Family Link stop Shorts?","It stops individual Shorts that are flagged above the age tier you've set, the same as it would a long-form video. It doesn't distinguish the Shorts format from any other video, so age-appropriate Shorts play through unaffected -- there's no separate Shorts control to turn off.",{"question":186,"answer":187},"Is YouTube likely to add a real Shorts toggle later?","There's no way to know for certain, but Shorts is YouTube's answer to TikTok and Instagram Reels -- a growth priority for the platform, not a side feature. A parent-facing kill switch for it would work against that priority, which is probably why nothing like it exists on any surface today.",{"question":189,"answer":190},"Does ChannelKeep have a setting to turn off Shorts?","No, because there's no Shorts feature to turn off. ChannelKeep only plays the specific videos a parent has chosen, in the format they were uploaded in -- there's no short-form feed, no swipe-up-for-more surface, and no discovery mechanism for a Shorts-style video to appear through in the first place.",true,"\u002Fblock-youtube-shorts",{"targetQuery":194,"title":5,"description":165},"how to block youtube shorts","block-youtube-shorts","P-jU6kQ4194tYEFV7HtV5U7XNRuUrz9pSatf08LA7ew",1786134909218]