YouTube Shorts can be switched off on mobile

YouTube Shorts can now at least be switched off in the mobile app. Via a setting in the “Time management” of the apps for Android and iOS, you can set the available time for Shorts to 0 minutes. After this setting has been made, YouTube no longer displays any Shorts videos, at least on the start page.

Shorts are short clips, which have been sneaking in among normal YouTube videos for several years. They are often created by creators from longer videos, but in some cases they are also made specifically or borrowed from other social media. They promote hectic media consumption and automatically scroll to the next video snippet after a clip has ended. Many users find them annoying or notice that they get distracted by them. Therefore, YouTube has been offering a separate setting option for some time to set the maximum viewing time per day for Shorts. Parents can also set this option for their children.

Set time budget to 0

YouTube announced the possibility of further restricting Shorts several months ago. Now, in the YouTube mobile apps, there is the option to set the maximum viewing time to 0 minutes; the previous minimum was 15 minutes. Google confirmed to the US tech magazine The Verge that the new option is now available to all parents and is also being rolled out to all standard users.

The setting option has also arrived in the German app. To activate it, first tap on the profile picture in the app for Android or iOS. Then select the settings menu in the top right corner and navigate to “Time management.” After tapping on “Limits for the Shorts feed,” you have the option to select “0 minutes.” After restarting the app, Shorts will disappear from the recommendations on the start page. However, Shorts may continue to appear in the view for subscribed channels.

An option to switch off Shorts in the web version of YouTube or in the TV app is not currently offered.

(dahe)