Does YouTube have a setting to permanently disable Shorts?

No. As of 2026, YouTube has no native option to remove Shorts from your feed, hide the Shorts tab, or prevent Shorts from appearing in search results. A browser extension is required to do this.

What is the best extension to hide YouTube Shorts?

Unhook is the most reliable extension for hiding YouTube Shorts in 2026. It removes the Shorts shelf from the homepage, the Shorts tab from the sidebar, and Shorts from search results with individual toggles. It is free and works on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Can I hide YouTube Shorts on mobile?

On Android, install Firefox for Android and add Unhook from the Firefox Add-ons store. On iOS, extensions are not supported in the YouTube app — use YouTube.com in Orion Browser with Unhook installed instead.

Will hiding Shorts affect my YouTube recommendations?

Yes, over time. When Shorts are hidden and you stop interacting with them, YouTube's algorithm receives fewer engagement signals for that content type and will gradually reduce its recommendations. The extension provides the immediate removal; reduced algorithmic weighting follows over weeks.

How to Hide YouTube Shorts Permanently (2026 Guide)

To hide YouTube Shorts permanently in 2026, install the free Unhook extension on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge and toggle on "Hide Shorts shelf" in the options. Shorts disappear from the homepage, sidebar, search results, and the Shorts tab in one click. YouTube's own settings do not include a way to hide Shorts permanently — an extension is required.

Last verified: May 25, 2026 · Reading time: 3 min · Difficulty: Easy

TL;DR

YouTube has no built-in way to permanently hide Shorts on desktop or mobile web.
Best tool: Unhook — free, Chrome + Firefox + Edge, single toggle.
Covers: homepage Shorts shelf, sidebar, search results, and the Shorts tab.
Mobile YouTube app is not covered — use Revanced or watch in a browser.

What YouTube lets you do

As of May 2026, YouTube’s native options for managing Shorts are:

“Not interested” on individual Shorts (the algorithm ignores this signal within hours).
“Don’t recommend channel” on individual creators.
Pausing watch history (kills personalization but doesn’t hide Shorts).

There is no toggle for “hide all Shorts.” That’s why an extension is needed.

The setup (desktop)

1. Install Unhook

Free, Chrome / Firefox / Edge. Unhook.app.

2. Configure

Click the Unhook icon in your browser toolbar. Set the following toggles:

Setting	Value
Hide homepage feed	optional
Hide Shorts shelf	on
Hide Shorts tab in sidebar	on
Hide Shorts in search	on
Hide Shorts on subscription page	on
Sidebar recommendations	optional

3. Reload YouTube

Shorts are gone — from the homepage, from search, from the sidebar.

The setup (mobile)

The YouTube mobile app does not support extensions. Three working approaches:

YouTube Revanced (Android) — patched YouTube client with a built-in “Hide Shorts” toggle. Sideload only.
Browser approach — use YouTube in Kiwi or Yandex (Android) or Orion (iOS) with the Unhook extension installed.
YouTube Premium hack — Premium doesn’t hide Shorts either, but the Shorts shelf can be dismissed for ~30 days at a time on the official app via “Hide” on the shelf header. Returns automatically.

What this won’t do

Won’t hide Shorts inside the official YouTube mobile app. Apple and Google don’t allow extensions in iOS Safari / official YouTube app.
Won’t stop creators from uploading Shorts. It hides them; YouTube still produces them.
Won’t prevent occasional Shorts-format videos uploaded as regular videos. Some creators deliberately upload vertical short videos as standard videos to avoid the Shorts player.

Going further

Hide the entire homepage feed in Unhook (toggle above). Makes YouTube purely a search-and-subscriptions tool.
Add News Feed Eradicator as a layer. NFE removes the YouTube homepage entirely; Unhook is more granular.
For the determined: install Cold Turkey with youtube.com/shorts/* on the blocklist to redirect direct-URL Shorts visits.

If it’s not working

Shorts back after a YouTube update? Re-check the Unhook toggle is still on; YouTube ships UI changes that occasionally reset the matching selectors. Unhook updates within days but you may need to update the extension manually.
Mobile Shorts still showing? Confirm you’re using a browser that supports Chrome extensions, not the YouTube app.
Search still shows Shorts? “Hide Shorts in search” is a separate toggle in Unhook — confirm it’s on.

How to hide YouTube recommendations — hide the homepage feed and sidebar suggestions too.
What is doomscrolling? And how to stop it — YouTube Shorts is one of the primary doomscrolling surfaces.
Best distraction blockers 2026 — when hiding Shorts isn’t enough and you need to block YouTube entirely.

What to do next

Install Unhook, toggle Hide Shorts shelf + Hide Shorts in search + Hide Shorts tab, reload YouTube. Thirty seconds.

Join the waitlist — when the FeedCutter extension ships, it will hide Shorts across the official mobile YouTube app, which no current tool can.

Tools you'll want

Unhook

★ 4.7

Strip recommendations, Shorts, comments, and the homepage feed from YouTube — keep search and subscriptions

free chromefirefoxedge

Best for: YouTube users who want to keep search and subscriptions but eliminate every algorithmic surface — the gold-standard YouTube de-doomscroller Install →

News Feed Eradicator

★ 4.3

Replace your social media feeds with an inspirational quote — across every major platform

free chromefirefox

Best for: People who've tried keyword filtering and the feed still pulls them in — the nuclear option for every social platform at once Install →