How to Disable YouTube Shorts on Mobile, Desktop, and Your Kid's Phone (2026)

YouTube Shorts is engineered to keep your thumb scrolling, which is exactly why parents and adults alike search for a way to switch it off. The good news: YouTube finally added a built-in zero-minute daily time-limit that hides the Shorts shelf and Shorts tab on iPhone and Android. The catch: that toggle has no PIN, so any signed-in child can flip it back in under a minute. This guide gives you the exact tap path for the mobile app, the desktop browser extension that strips Shorts from youtube.com, and the parental-control layer that actually makes the change stick on a kid's device — covering iPhone, Android, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. For a time cap rather than a feature toggle, limit time on YouTube covers the layered approach.

Why YouTube Shorts Is Hard to Turn Off (and Why the Native Toggle Isn't Enough for Kids)

YouTube Shorts behaves the way TikTok behaves — an endless vertical feed, autoplay on, no clear stopping cue, and a recommendation engine tuned for the next swipe. Whatever you sat down to watch, Shorts pulls your attention sideways.

The platform finally addressed the complaint with a native daily time-limit you can set as low as zero minutes, which effectively hides the Shorts shelf and the Shorts tab on the YouTube mobile app. That solves the problem for an adult who wants their own feed cleaned up.

On a kid's device, the same toggle becomes the problem. The setting lives inside the YouTube account's own preferences, so the child signed into that account can open the same menu and undo it. And desktop YouTube — which most kids reach for as soon as the app is locked down — is untouched by the mobile setting. Parents who want the toggle to stick on a child's device can layer in tools to monitor YouTube, which keep the restriction in place even when the account-side preference flips back.

This guide stacks three layers so you can pick the right combination:

• The native zero-minute toggle on the YouTube mobile app, for iPhone and Android.
• A browser extension that strips Shorts from youtube.com on desktop.
• A parental-control layer that prevents the child from reopening YouTube or reversing the toggle.

Use one, two, or all three depending on whose device it is.

How to Disable YouTube Shorts on iPhone and Android

YouTube's built-in toggle is the fastest fix for your own phone. The tap path is identical on iOS and Android:

1. Open the YouTube app and tap your profile picture in the top right corner.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap General.
4. Tap Shorts daily time-limit (sometimes labeled simply 'Shorts').
5. Set the limit to 0 minutes.
6. Confirm the change and force-close the app.

When you reopen YouTube, the Shorts shelf on Home and the Shorts tab on the bottom navigation bar should both be gone. Regular videos, subscriptions, and the search feed stay exactly as they were.

A few common reasons people get stuck:

• Not signed in. The setting attaches to a YouTube account, not the device. If the YouTube app is signed out, sign in first — otherwise the menu shows fewer options.
• Multiple Google accounts. If the phone has more than one Google account, set the limit on the account the child actually uses. Switching accounts brings back the default Shorts behavior.
• Outdated app version. The zero-minute option rolled out gradually. If you don't see it, update the YouTube app from the App Store or Play Store and try again.
• iPad or tablet. The same menu path works on iPad and Android tablets — the option lives in the same place.

This change applies to the YouTube mobile app only. Visiting youtube.com in Safari or Chrome on the same phone will still show Shorts; the next section handles desktop and the browser route.

How to Remove YouTube Shorts on Desktop (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox)

The mobile zero-minute toggle does not carry over to youtube.com on a computer. Desktop Shorts still appears in the left sidebar, on the home page, and inside search results. The fix is a small browser extension.

The most popular option is Remove YouTube Shorts in the Chrome Web Store, with 4.7 stars and roughly 597 ratings at time of writing. It works on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and other Chromium browsers.

To install on Chrome or Edge:

1. Open the Chrome Web Store (works in Edge too).
2. Search for Remove YouTube Shorts.
3. Click Add to Chrome (or Add to Edge).
4. Confirm the requested permissions.
5. Reload any open YouTube tab.

After install, the extension cleans up:

• The Shorts shelf on the YouTube home page.
• The Shorts tab in the left-hand sidebar.
• Shorts entries that would otherwise appear in search results and the Subscriptions feed.

Firefox users can install a similar add-on from the Firefox Add-ons store — search for 'Hide YouTube Shorts' or 'Remove YouTube Shorts' and pick the highest-rated current option.

Limitations to know about:

• The extension runs only inside the browser it is installed in. Shorts will still appear in the YouTube mobile app and in other browsers on the same machine.
• Incognito or private windows do not load the extension by default; you have to allow it explicitly.
• The extension can be disabled or uninstalled by anyone with access to that browser profile — which matters when the computer is shared with a child.

The Loophole No One Mentions: Your Child Can Re-Enable Shorts in Seconds

Here is what the news write-ups about YouTube's new Shorts limit tend to leave out: the toggle has no PIN, no password, and no parental lock. The same Settings → General → Shorts daily time-limit menu that lets you set zero minutes lets your child raise it back to 60, 120, or unlimited just as quickly.

The bypass list is short and obvious:

• Open Settings inside the YouTube app and change the limit back.
• Sign out of the supervised Google account and into a personal one.
• Open YouTube in Safari, Chrome, or any browser that does not have the extension installed.
• Open an incognito window where the desktop extension does not run.
• Uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app on the phone — the limit resets to default.

None of this requires technical skill, and most kids who care about Shorts will figure it out within a day or two. The durable fix is to move the control point out of the YouTube app entirely and into a layer the child cannot edit: when YouTube can be opened at all, and for how long per day. The see what apps your kid uses guide page covers exactly that durable parent-side layer.

Lock Shorts Down for Good with NexSpy Screen Time Controls

If you have already set the zero-minute toggle and installed the desktop extension, the last gap is the kid's phone itself. NexSpy is built for exactly this layer — a parent-controlled enforcement point that decides when an app can run at all, no matter what the child changes inside that app.

For YouTube Shorts specifically, four NexSpy controls carry the weight:

• Per-app daily time limit on YouTube. Set a maximum — for example, 30 minutes per day — and the YouTube app auto-locks the moment the limit is reached. There is no manual policing, and the limit applies whether the child watched full videos or Shorts. The lock holds until the clock resets.
• Instant or scheduled App and Game Blocker. Block YouTube outright during homework hours, dinner, or school. The schedule repeats automatically; one tap from the Parent Dashboard adds an instant block when you need a hard stop right now.
• Downtime, bedtime, and school-time schedules. Pre-built schedule windows that cover the times that matter most. YouTube — and any other app you add — stays locked through the whole window. Bedtime ends, the app comes back; no late-night rabbit holes.
• Focus Mode. When study time has to be absolute, Focus Mode locks every app on the phone except the Phone app. The child can still call for help; they cannot reopen YouTube, switch to a browser, or open a different video app. Only the parent can end Focus Mode early — the child cannot disable it on their own.

When the child wants more time, they don't change a hidden toggle. They tap a request-permission button inside the Kids app. You get a notification and approve or deny from your phone. The negotiation happens in one place, with a clear record of what was asked for and what was granted — which beats arguing about whether someone moved the slider back to 60 minutes.

The whole setup works on both Android and iOS child devices through one Parent Dashboard, so a mixed-device household — iPhone for one kid, Android for the other — is one account and one workflow.

Which Method Should You Use? A Quick Comparison

Different households need different layers. Pick from the table:

The pattern holds: the native toggle and the extension are great for adults, and they are a useful first layer for kids — but the enforcement that actually survives a determined child sits with a parent-controlled app limit, a schedule, or Focus Mode.