How to Remove Shorts and Reels?
If you find yourself stuck doomscrolling on YouTube or Instagram—even when you only opened the app to learn something, check a workout, or catch up with friends—you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve even uninstalled the YouTube app, but still end up watching Shorts on your browser. Or you want to stay connected on Instagram, but endless Reels and recommendations keep pulling you in.
The good news: you can take back control. With a few quick tweaks in your app or browser settings, you can remove Shorts, Reels, and other distracting recommendations from your feed—so you only see the content you actually want.
YouTube
On Mobile:
1️⃣ Open YouTube
2️⃣ Go to Settings
3️⃣ Tap History and Privacy
4️⃣ Click Manage all activity
5️⃣ Switch Off Watch History
6️⃣ Clear your Watch History (This might take some time.)
On Desktop:
1️⃣ Open YouTube
2️⃣ Click History (left sidebar)
3️⃣ Click Pause Watch History
4️⃣ Clear your Watch History
YouTube uses your watch history to personalise Shorts and video recommendations. Turning it off removes most recommendations, so you only see what you search for.
You can do the same in the YouTube App under Settings > History & Privacy.
Instagram
On Mobile:
1️⃣ Open the app
2️⃣ Tap the three lines (menu) in the top right
3️⃣ Go to Content Preferences
4️⃣ Select Hidden words and phrases
5️⃣ Add “#” as a muted word to block most posts with hashtags (covers much of Explore and Reel content)
6️⃣ Add common words like “and,” “or,” “post,” “when,” etc., for extra filtering
7️⃣ Toggle Snooze suggested feed for 30 days to stop suggested Reels from appearing in your main feed
On Desktop:
1️⃣ Click your profile icon
2️⃣ Go to Settings
3️⃣ Follow the same steps as above under Content Preferences
These simple changes can help you use YouTube and Instagram with intention, so you get what you need, without the distractions.