How to turn off YouTube Shorts
Short answer: in the YouTube mobile app, open Settings, then Time management, then Shorts feed limit, and set it to 0 minutes. That quiets the Shorts feed. It doesn't remove every Short, so below is what it does, what it misses, and a way to watch YouTube with no Shorts at all.
Disable YouTube Shorts with the feed limit
- Open the YouTube app on your phone and tap You.
- Tap the gear icon to open Settings.
- Tap Time management.
- Tap Shorts feed limit and choose 0 minutes.
With the limit at zero, the endless Shorts feed stops. YouTube rolled this out in 2026 and menu names can move around between app versions, so if you don't see it, update the app and check again. It works in the mobile app; the YouTube website doesn't have the same setting.
What the Shorts limit doesn't block
The setting is a nudge, not a wall. When you hit the limit YouTube shows a reminder you can dismiss and keep watching. Shorts also still appear in search results, on creator pages and in links friends send you. If the feed is what pulls you in, it helps a lot. If you want Shorts gone, it won't get you all the way.
Block YouTube Shorts for kids and teens
Parents with a supervised teen account in Google Family Link can set the teen's Shorts feed limit to zero and lock it, so it can't be dismissed. That's the one version of the setting that behaves like a real block.
Watch long YouTube videos instead
The other approach is to change how you open YouTube in the first place. dunno.tv plays full-length YouTube videos on channels that are always on: a full tennis match, a chess round, a documentary. There's no feed, no Shorts and nothing to scroll. You flip channels like old-fashioned TV.
It still plays through YouTube's official player, so creators get their views and YouTube's ads play as normal. It just leaves out the part that eats your evening.
Questions people ask
- How do I turn YouTube Shorts off?
- In the YouTube mobile app, go to You, then Settings, then Time management, then Shorts feed limit, and set it to 0 minutes. That stops the Shorts feed. Individual Shorts can still show up in search results and on creator pages.
- Can I block my child from watching YouTube Shorts?
- For a supervised teen account, a parent can set the Shorts feed limit to zero through Google Family Link and lock it, so the teen can't dismiss it. On an adult account the limit is only a reminder you can skip.
- Can I remove Shorts from YouTube completely?
- Not entirely. The Shorts feed limit quiets the feed, but Shorts still appear in some places, like search results and channel pages. Watching through something that only plays long videos, like dunno.tv, is the most complete way to avoid them.
- Does dunno.tv play Shorts?
- No. dunno.tv schedules full-length YouTube videos onto TV-style channels. There's no Shorts feed and nothing to scroll.
Stop scrolling. Turn it on.
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