March 30, 2026

How to Remove Shorts from YouTube (2026 Guide)

Short-form videos are now built into almost every part of YouTube. While there are ways to reduce how often Shorts appear, YouTube does not provide a setting to permanently disable them.

Below is one method for reducing the number of Shorts you're shown, plus one method of permanently disabling them.

How to Reduce Shorts on YouTube (Native Method)

While YouTube doesn’t give you an option to permanently disable shorts, there are some steps you can take to reduce the amount of shorts you get shown.

To do this:

  1. Find a Short on your homepage

  2. Tap the three dots (⋯)

  3. Tap “Show fewer Shorts” or “Not interested”

This signals to YouTube that you don’t want to see that type of content. Over time, this may reduce how often Shorts appear. However, this approach is not permanent. Shorts will still show up on your homepage, in search results, and across the app.

How to Remove Shorts from YouTube Completely

If you want to block YouTube Shorts entirely, you need a different approach.

Pants is an app designed to remove short-form content from apps like YouTube. Instead of relying on recommendation signals, it changes how the app behaves.

With Pants, you can:

  • Remove Shorts from YouTube completely

  • Keep access to subscriptions and long-form videos

  • Use search without Shorts appearing

  • Avoid getting pulled into endless scrolling

Pants works on iOS, Android, and on the web through a Chrome extension.

How to Block YouTube Shorts with Pants

Getting started is simple:

  1. Open Pants

  2. Log into your YouTube account

  3. Once logged in, shorts are automatically disabled. Plus you’ll have options to enable search only mode, hide recommended videos, hide Playables, and more.

Your YouTube experience becomes focused on the content you actually want to watch.

Closing Thoughts

YouTube allows you to reduce Shorts, but not remove them. Tapping “Not interested” can help, but Shorts will continue to appear throughout the app.

Pants takes a different approach by removing Shorts entirely, giving you a version of YouTube focused on the content you choose to watch.