YouTube is a little more generous than Instagram: there is a setting to hide Shorts. It lasts thirty days, then everything comes back.
That's something, and it's worth turning on. But if this is your third visit to a page like this in six months, you already know it isn't a solution.
The two settings that genuinely exist
Hide the Shorts shelf
On the home page, next to the “Shorts” header, the “…” menu offers to hide the shelf. YouTube then tells you it won't be back for thirty days. So it's a monthly chore — and it doesn't remove the Shorts tab from the bottom bar.
Turn off watch history
In your Google account settings, pausing watch history empties the home page of recommendations. It's blunt and it works — at the cost of losing the suggestions you actually liked, and resume-where-you-left-off.
Why Shorts always come back
Short form is YouTube's answer to TikTok, and the home-page shelf is its best entry point. Hiding it permanently would cost YouTube its main retention lever on mobile; thirty days is the compromise between letting you breathe and not letting you leave.
Thirty days is long enough that you forget, and short enough that it returns.
A YouTube without Shorts, for good
Slowcial opens YouTube in a web view and strips Shorts on every load: the thumbnails in the feed, the home-page shelves, and the tab in the navigation bar. Subscriptions, history, playlists and comments are untouched.
Unlike the native setting, there's nothing to redo every month: the rule applies on every open, and it's verified before each release. The most recent audit counted eight thumbnails, two shelves and the navigation tab — all removed.
- Videos from your subscriptions open normally
- Search works exactly as before
- A Short someone sends you as a link still plays — you just can't swipe to the next one
Frequently asked questions
Can you disable YouTube Shorts permanently?
Not from the app itself. Hiding the Shorts shelf lasts thirty days, then it reappears, and the Shorts tab in the bottom bar is never affected. Only a tool that strips the elements on every load gives a lasting result.
Is turning off watch history enough?
It empties the home page of recommendations, and therefore of the Shorts it carried — but you also lose useful suggestions, resume playback, and the Shorts tab stays put.
Does this work with YouTube Premium?
Yes. Filtering applies to how pages are displayed, not to your account: a Premium subscription keeps working normally.
