How to Turn Off YouTube Shorts (and Keep Your Favorite Channels)

You open YouTube to watch one video from a channel you love, and 40 minutes later you're still flicking through Shorts. Here's how to turn off YouTube Shorts as far as YouTube allows in 2026, and which popular fixes quietly cost you the long videos you came for.

In this guide:

• Can you turn off YouTube Shorts completely?
• How to turn off YouTube Shorts on iPhone and Android
• How to see fewer Shorts on your Home feed
• How to turn off YouTube Shorts on a computer
• How to limit Shorts for kids and teens
• Can you stop Shorts notifications?
• Shorts fixes that cost you more than Shorts
• How to keep up with favorite channels without the Shorts feed

Can you turn off YouTube Shorts completely?

No. YouTube has no switch that removes Shorts from the app. The closest thing is the Shorts feed limit, which YouTube began letting people set to zero minutes in April 2026, Mashable reported. Before that, the shortest limit was 15 minutes.

Each fix only reaches certain places where Shorts appear:

So the realistic goal is fewer Shorts, not zero. Stack the fixes below in order, starting with your phone.

How to turn off YouTube Shorts on iPhone and Android

To turn off YouTube Shorts on a phone, set the Shorts feed limit to zero. The steps are the same on iPhone and Android, per YouTube Help's Set a Shorts feed limit page:

1. Update the YouTube app and sign in.
2. Tap the You tab, then Settings.
3. Tap Time management.
4. Tap Shorts feed limit, then choose the zero option from the list of time limits.

When you reach the limit in the Shorts feed, YouTube Help says "a message will appear reminding you." You'll be "prompted with an option to dismiss or ignore your set limit." So the zero limit is a speed bump you set for yourself, not a lock.

If you don't see the zero option, update the app. It only reached the iOS and Android apps in April 2026.

How to see fewer Shorts on your YouTube Home feed

YouTube Help lists no way to turn off YouTube Shorts on Home, but you can shrink them with Show fewer Shorts on any grid of Shorts. Its recommendations page gives these steps:

1. Open your Home feed in the YouTube app.
2. Scroll to a grid of Shorts.
3. At the top of the grid, tap More.
4. Tap Show fewer Shorts.

For a single Short, tap More next to it and choose Not interested. For a channel that only posts Shorts you'll never watch, choose Don't recommend channel from the same menu.

Both choices can be undone: in Google's My Activity, open Other activity and delete the feedback. Our guide to resetting your YouTube algorithm shows the full cleanup.

How to turn off YouTube Shorts on a computer

On a computer, no setting turns off YouTube Shorts. YouTube Help's Shorts feed limit steps are for the YouTube app, even on the page's computer version. On a PC or Mac, you have three options:

• Not interested: On Home, click More next to a Short and choose Not interested, or Don't recommend channel for a Shorts-only channel.
• Skip Home: Click Subscriptions in the left-hand menu to see new uploads from channels you follow. It can show a Shorts shelf too, but long videos are listed there as well.
• Browser extensions: Extensions can hide Shorts on youtube.com, but YouTube doesn't make them. YouTube Help warns that a browser extension can end up "subscribing you without your permission." Install only ones you trust.

How to limit Shorts for kids and teens

To turn off YouTube Shorts for a teen, use a supervised account, where parents can cap Shorts time. On January 14, 2026, YouTube announced Shorts time limits that parents set for supervised teens, with a zero-minute option to follow, Android Authority reported. Mashable's April 2026 report says the limit works both ways: adults set it for themselves, and parents set it for their kids.

For younger children, the YouTube Kids app is the simpler route. Android Authority points out that YouTube Kids doesn't have a Shorts tab at all.

Can you stop Shorts notifications?

Not on their own. Each channel's bell has three settings, and none of them means "long videos only." YouTube Help defines them like this:

• All: "notifications for long-form uploads and live streams." It adds: "You may also get some personalized notifications for Shorts."
• Personalized: "some regular uploads, Shorts, and live streams." New subscriptions start here.
• None: no notifications from that channel at all.

So a channel that posts lots of Shorts can still ping you on All. If the pings come from channels you don't follow, tap your profile picture, then Settings, then Notifications, and turn off Recommended videos.

Every bell option is explained in our YouTube notification settings guide, and how to turn off YouTube notifications covers silencing the app. If long uploads never ping at all, start with YouTube notifications not working.

Shorts fixes that cost you more than Shorts

Some popular ways to turn off YouTube Shorts also cut you off from the channels you care about. Skip these, or use them knowing the trade-off:

• Pausing watch history. YouTube Help says that with no significant recent history, "recommendations on the YouTube homepage are removed." Home can also show videos from your subscriptions, so those go too, on a feed that already ignores many channels you subscribed to.
• Don't recommend channel on a channel you follow. It covers the whole channel, long videos included.
• Deleting the app. No more Shorts, but no more upload alerts on your phone either.

How to keep up with favorite channels without the Shorts feed

Once you turn off YouTube Shorts, the next step is to stop browsing for new videos and let them come to you. You have two ways to do that:

1. Check Subscriptions, not Home. On a phone, tap Subs in the top bar of the Home tab, per YouTube Help. On a computer, click Subscriptions in the left-hand menu.
2. Get an email for every upload. Sublark emails you when a channel you pick uploads, usually within the hour. The email links straight to the video, so you never pass through Home or the Shorts feed. It's free for viewers.

One honest caveat: Sublark follows a channel's public uploads, and that includes its Shorts. A channel that posts lots of Shorts will send Shorts emails too, so pick the channels whose long videos you actually wait for.

The bottom line

How to turn off YouTube Shorts in 2026 comes down to three moves: set the Shorts feed limit to zero in the app, tap Show fewer Shorts on Home, and use Not interested on a computer. None of them is a hard off switch, so aim for fewer Shorts, not none. For the channels you'd hate to miss, let an email bring their new videos to you.

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