YouTube without Shorts
October 11, 2026 · 5 min read · YouTube
Shorts are quick, vertical videos that YouTube mixes into almost every page. Plenty of people like them. Plenty of others open YouTube to watch a long lecture and look up forty minutes later, three hundred Shorts in.
If you want YouTube without Shorts, here is what is possible.
What YouTube offers
YouTube lets you say “not interested” on individual Shorts, and in many places you can close the Shorts shelf for a while. These choices are helpful, but they are temporary and they apply one Short at a time. The shelf comes back, and the Shorts tab stays in the sidebar.
Where Shorts show up on desktop
- A shelf in the middle of your home feed
- A tab in the left sidebar
- Rows inside search results
- Links and recommendations beside regular videos
Because Shorts show up in several places, hiding one place is not enough.
Hiding them with a browser extension
An extension can hide all of those places for good. Feedbreak does this with CSS before the page paints, so you do not see a flash of Shorts first. You can choose how far to go:
- Light: hide Shorts only.
- Balanced: also hide the home feed.
- Strict: also hide recommendations and end screens, and add a short pause before you undo a hide.
Search, subscriptions, playlists and history keep working. A small label tells you what was hidden and why.
When you want one Short
Sometimes a friend sends you a Short. Use Show once, or peek for 15 seconds, and it appears. Nothing is blocked permanently unless you choose to lock it.
If you want some Shorts, on your terms
Pro adds a daily budget. Set ten minutes, watch with intention, and Shorts are hidden again until midnight.
Keep your privacy
Hiding is done on your device. Feedbreak does not read video titles, page text or your account name. You can read how in the privacy policy.
For setup steps, see the page on how to hide YouTube Shorts.