How to block YouTube Shorts

Why Shorts are the hardest part of YouTube

Shorts are YouTube's endless vertical video feed: autoplaying, algorithm-driven and designed to keep the next clip coming. For parents they are the hardest part of YouTube to manage, because short clips carry far weaker content signals than full videos and the feed format is built for exactly the kind of rabbit holes kids fall into.

In a 90 day sample of 80 channels, we found that 1,540 of 3,832 public uploads were one minute or less. YouTube's API does not say which videos are Shorts, so our Shorts research reports a measured upper bound instead of treating every short video as a Short.

What YouTube gives you built in

The honest summary: YouTube has no real off switch for Shorts.

• The X on the Shorts shelf hides it from the Home feed for about 30 days. Then it comes back, and the Shorts tab keeps working the whole time.
• Restricted Mode filters some mature content but does not remove Shorts or the Shorts feed.
• Supervised accounts (via Family Link) limit what content appears, but the Shorts experience stays in the app.
• YouTube Kids genuinely has no Shorts feed. For young children it is a reasonable answer on its own, but most kids outgrow it quickly.

Block Shorts completely with Vidward

Vidward is a browser extension controlled from a parent dashboard. Its Shorts blocker removes the shelf, the tab and short-form playback across YouTube in your child's browser.

1. 1
   Install the Vidward extension in the browser your child uses.
2. 2

   Create your parent account and link their device with the activation code from your dashboard.

3. 3

   Open your child's Filters tab and turn on Block Shorts. The change applies in their browser immediately.

Can you block Shorts in the YouTube app?

Not fully, but there is one real control. On a phone or tablet the app gives you the same options as the computer, and they work no better: the X on the shelf hides Shorts for about 30 days, and Restricted Mode leaves the feed in place.

The exception is Family Link. Since March 2026 it can set a supervised account's daily Shorts feed limit to zero, which stops the child scrolling the feed for the rest of the day. It caps the feed rather than removing Shorts, so the tabs, shelves, search results and direct links stay.

What helps on a phone:

• YouTube Kids for younger children. It has no Shorts feed at all.
• The Family Link Shorts limit set to zero, for a supervised account. It caps the feed for the day.
• An app time limit through Family Link or Screen Time. It cannot target Shorts, but it caps the scrolling overall.

Vidward works in the browser, so it removes Shorts on computers and Chromebooks. If most of the scrolling happens on a phone, start with the two options above.

Make it stick

Blocking Shorts only helps if your child cannot turn it off. Two steps close that gap: give them a standard account on Windows or on a Mac, and, if they use Chrome, run the tamper-proof setup so the extension cannot be disabled or removed.

For the bigger picture, including what to do about specific channels, see how to block a YouTube channel and the complete guide to YouTube parental controls.