How to Turn Off YouTube Shorts on iPhone?
If you’ve tried to “turn off” YouTube Shorts on your iPhone, you’ve probably discovered the catch: there’s no toggle to disable Shorts in the YouTube app.
Ideas & Tips
Oct 6, 2025
4 min
Yes. I know, this is the most terrible thing you might read for today.
We know it can be really frustrating, and it would be wonderful if it were possible. But it’s not, and it likely never will be—and here’s why. More importantly, here’s how you can get rid of it as much as possible (because giving up is definitely not an option).
Why YouTube Pushes Shorts So Hard
A simple reason: Shorts are a strategic pillar for YouTube. They keep people on the platform, appeal to younger audiences, and help YouTube compete directly with TikTok and Instagram Reels. In 2023 YouTube expanded its Partner Program so Shorts creators could earn ad revenue, and in 2024 the company marked one year of Shorts revenue sharing, signaling long-term commitment rather than a passing experiment.
The scale is also enormous. YouTube has publicly reported that Shorts attracts billions of viewers and jaw-dropping daily view counts. In Alphabet’s 2025 Q2 remarks, Google stated that YouTube now averages over 200 billion daily Shorts views—that’s not a feature that’s likely to disappear.
In the U.S., Shorts now earn as much revenue per watchhour as traditional instream on YouTube. […] We now average over 200 billion daily views on YouTube Shorts.
Translation: You won’t find an official “Off” switch. Not now, not tomorrow. Period.
Yet It’s a Danger
The “just one more” effect isn’t simply weak willpower—it’s a design pattern. Short-form video combines fast, variable rewards (some clips are great, some aren’t; the uncertainty keeps you scrolling) with frictionless, infinite feeds, which can train compulsive checking habits.
A growing body of research ties short-video overuse to poorer attentional control, higher distractibility, and related academic and mental-health concerns:
Short-form video addiction are associated with increased academic procrastination, mediated by lowered attentional control.
A greater tendency toward short-video addiction negatively impacts self-control and executive control in attention tasks.
Problematic short-video/TikTok use is linked with difficulties sustaining attention, susceptibility to distractors, and worse academic engagement, with emerging evidence of mental-health impacts (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) in heavy users.
We don’t need to catastrophize to take action. The takeaway is practical: Shorts are engineered to be sticky and the app won’t help you unstick. So we need to find a solution by ourselves.
Remove Shorts
#1 — Remove Shorts (As Much as We Can)
The tutorial might look a bit long and complex, but the good news is it actually works pretty well. Don’t worry—we’ve detailed every step so it’s easy for you to follow.
Clear your history
To start, you’ll need to wipe your YouTube activity.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Manage All History.
Tap Delete, then choose Delete all.
Turn off recommendations
Next, tell YouTube to stop suggesting videos (which is exactly what Shorts rely on). The downside is you won’t get any recommendations, even for long-form content. You’ll have to stick to your subscriptions or visit your favorite creators’ pages directly.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Your Data in YouTube.
Under YouTube Watch History, toggle it Off.
Restart the app and make a few tweaks
For the changes to take effect, fully close the YouTube app (don’t just leave it in the background) and reopen it.
If Shorts still show up in the Shorts section, tap the “…” menu and select See less. That should get rid of them for good.
Yes. I know, this is the most terrible thing you might read for today.
We know it can be really frustrating, and it would be wonderful if it were possible. But it’s not, and it likely never will be—and here’s why. More importantly, here’s how you can get rid of it as much as possible (because giving up is definitely not an option).
Why YouTube Pushes Shorts So Hard
A simple reason: Shorts are a strategic pillar for YouTube. They keep people on the platform, appeal to younger audiences, and help YouTube compete directly with TikTok and Instagram Reels. In 2023 YouTube expanded its Partner Program so Shorts creators could earn ad revenue, and in 2024 the company marked one year of Shorts revenue sharing, signaling long-term commitment rather than a passing experiment.
The scale is also enormous. YouTube has publicly reported that Shorts attracts billions of viewers and jaw-dropping daily view counts. In Alphabet’s 2025 Q2 remarks, Google stated that YouTube now averages over 200 billion daily Shorts views—that’s not a feature that’s likely to disappear.
In the U.S., Shorts now earn as much revenue per watchhour as traditional instream on YouTube. […] We now average over 200 billion daily views on YouTube Shorts.
Translation: You won’t find an official “Off” switch. Not now, not tomorrow. Period.
Yet It’s a Danger
The “just one more” effect isn’t simply weak willpower—it’s a design pattern. Short-form video combines fast, variable rewards (some clips are great, some aren’t; the uncertainty keeps you scrolling) with frictionless, infinite feeds, which can train compulsive checking habits.
A growing body of research ties short-video overuse to poorer attentional control, higher distractibility, and related academic and mental-health concerns:
Short-form video addiction are associated with increased academic procrastination, mediated by lowered attentional control.
A greater tendency toward short-video addiction negatively impacts self-control and executive control in attention tasks.
Problematic short-video/TikTok use is linked with difficulties sustaining attention, susceptibility to distractors, and worse academic engagement, with emerging evidence of mental-health impacts (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) in heavy users.
We don’t need to catastrophize to take action. The takeaway is practical: Shorts are engineered to be sticky and the app won’t help you unstick. So we need to find a solution by ourselves.
Remove Shorts
#1 — Remove Shorts (As Much as We Can)
The tutorial might look a bit long and complex, but the good news is it actually works pretty well. Don’t worry—we’ve detailed every step so it’s easy for you to follow.
Clear your history
To start, you’ll need to wipe your YouTube activity.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Manage All History.
Tap Delete, then choose Delete all.
Turn off recommendations
Next, tell YouTube to stop suggesting videos (which is exactly what Shorts rely on). The downside is you won’t get any recommendations, even for long-form content. You’ll have to stick to your subscriptions or visit your favorite creators’ pages directly.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Your Data in YouTube.
Under YouTube Watch History, toggle it Off.
Restart the app and make a few tweaks
For the changes to take effect, fully close the YouTube app (don’t just leave it in the background) and reopen it.
If Shorts still show up in the Shorts section, tap the “…” menu and select See less. That should get rid of them for good.
Yes. I know, this is the most terrible thing you might read for today.
We know it can be really frustrating, and it would be wonderful if it were possible. But it’s not, and it likely never will be—and here’s why. More importantly, here’s how you can get rid of it as much as possible (because giving up is definitely not an option).
Why YouTube Pushes Shorts So Hard
A simple reason: Shorts are a strategic pillar for YouTube. They keep people on the platform, appeal to younger audiences, and help YouTube compete directly with TikTok and Instagram Reels. In 2023 YouTube expanded its Partner Program so Shorts creators could earn ad revenue, and in 2024 the company marked one year of Shorts revenue sharing, signaling long-term commitment rather than a passing experiment.
The scale is also enormous. YouTube has publicly reported that Shorts attracts billions of viewers and jaw-dropping daily view counts. In Alphabet’s 2025 Q2 remarks, Google stated that YouTube now averages over 200 billion daily Shorts views—that’s not a feature that’s likely to disappear.
In the U.S., Shorts now earn as much revenue per watchhour as traditional instream on YouTube. […] We now average over 200 billion daily views on YouTube Shorts.
Translation: You won’t find an official “Off” switch. Not now, not tomorrow. Period.
Yet It’s a Danger
The “just one more” effect isn’t simply weak willpower—it’s a design pattern. Short-form video combines fast, variable rewards (some clips are great, some aren’t; the uncertainty keeps you scrolling) with frictionless, infinite feeds, which can train compulsive checking habits.
A growing body of research ties short-video overuse to poorer attentional control, higher distractibility, and related academic and mental-health concerns:
Short-form video addiction are associated with increased academic procrastination, mediated by lowered attentional control.
A greater tendency toward short-video addiction negatively impacts self-control and executive control in attention tasks.
Problematic short-video/TikTok use is linked with difficulties sustaining attention, susceptibility to distractors, and worse academic engagement, with emerging evidence of mental-health impacts (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) in heavy users.
We don’t need to catastrophize to take action. The takeaway is practical: Shorts are engineered to be sticky and the app won’t help you unstick. So we need to find a solution by ourselves.
Remove Shorts
#1 — Remove Shorts (As Much as We Can)
The tutorial might look a bit long and complex, but the good news is it actually works pretty well. Don’t worry—we’ve detailed every step so it’s easy for you to follow.
Clear your history
To start, you’ll need to wipe your YouTube activity.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Manage All History.
Tap Delete, then choose Delete all.
Turn off recommendations
Next, tell YouTube to stop suggesting videos (which is exactly what Shorts rely on). The downside is you won’t get any recommendations, even for long-form content. You’ll have to stick to your subscriptions or visit your favorite creators’ pages directly.
Open YouTube.
Go to Profile > Settings.
Tap Your Data in YouTube.
Under YouTube Watch History, toggle it Off.
Restart the app and make a few tweaks
For the changes to take effect, fully close the YouTube app (don’t just leave it in the background) and reopen it.
If Shorts still show up in the Shorts section, tap the “…” menu and select See less. That should get rid of them for good.
Your phone, your rules. Block on command and own your time.
For 30min
Everyday
On weekends
During workhours
From 10 pm to 8 am
For 7 days
All the time
Your phone, your rules. Block on command and own your time.
For 30min
Everyday
On weekends
During workhours
From 10 pm to 8 am
For 7 days
All the time
Your phone, your rules. Block on command and own your time.
For 30min
Everyday
On weekends
During workhours
From 10 pm to 8 am
For 7 days
All the time
#2 — Limit Your Time on the YouTube App
If your YouTube feed is packed with nothing but highly entertaining content, chances are you’ll have a hard time resisting. Here are a few of our go-to tips:
Keep your daily sessions down to around twenty minutes.
Block YouTube by default and only use it when you truly need it.
For this, you only need one app: Jomo (available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac). It’s free, which means you can go ahead and download it right now—no strings attached—to block Shorts.
Then you can set up:
An App Limit — to cap the maximum time you want to spend on YouTube each day.
An “Intentional Use” Session — which blocks YouTube by default and asks you each time how long and why you want to unlock it.
With everything shared in this article, you should be able to cut out Shorts for a good while and finally enjoy a calmer life, free from the distractions so loved by Silicon Valley.
YouTube is a fantastic platform we all enjoy, but our goals as users don’t always align with the goals of the investors behind these massive tech giants. That gap often pushes them to design addictive features that many of us end up using more than we’d like.
#2 — Limit Your Time on the YouTube App
If your YouTube feed is packed with nothing but highly entertaining content, chances are you’ll have a hard time resisting. Here are a few of our go-to tips:
Keep your daily sessions down to around twenty minutes.
Block YouTube by default and only use it when you truly need it.
For this, you only need one app: Jomo (available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac). It’s free, which means you can go ahead and download it right now—no strings attached—to block Shorts.
Then you can set up:
An App Limit — to cap the maximum time you want to spend on YouTube each day.
An “Intentional Use” Session — which blocks YouTube by default and asks you each time how long and why you want to unlock it.
With everything shared in this article, you should be able to cut out Shorts for a good while and finally enjoy a calmer life, free from the distractions so loved by Silicon Valley.
YouTube is a fantastic platform we all enjoy, but our goals as users don’t always align with the goals of the investors behind these massive tech giants. That gap often pushes them to design addictive features that many of us end up using more than we’d like.
#2 — Limit Your Time on the YouTube App
If your YouTube feed is packed with nothing but highly entertaining content, chances are you’ll have a hard time resisting. Here are a few of our go-to tips:
Keep your daily sessions down to around twenty minutes.
Block YouTube by default and only use it when you truly need it.
For this, you only need one app: Jomo (available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac). It’s free, which means you can go ahead and download it right now—no strings attached—to block Shorts.
Then you can set up:
An App Limit — to cap the maximum time you want to spend on YouTube each day.
An “Intentional Use” Session — which blocks YouTube by default and asks you each time how long and why you want to unlock it.
With everything shared in this article, you should be able to cut out Shorts for a good while and finally enjoy a calmer life, free from the distractions so loved by Silicon Valley.
YouTube is a fantastic platform we all enjoy, but our goals as users don’t always align with the goals of the investors behind these massive tech giants. That gap often pushes them to design addictive features that many of us end up using more than we’d like.
Credits
Photographies and illustrations by Unsplash & Pexels. Screenshots by Jomo.
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The Joy Of Missing Out
Crafted in Europe
All rights reserved to Jomo SAS, 2025
The Joy Of Missing Out
Crafted in Europe
All rights reserved to Jomo SAS, 2025
The Joy Of Missing Out
Crafted in Europe
All rights reserved to Jomo SAS, 2025