The whole industry has been forcing short-form videos into places I never asked for. Google has been no different.
Google bent the mobile app around vertical scrolling, then pinned a Shorts shelf near the top of my recommendations.
Now, YouTube is finally giving us an escape hatch. YouTube is rolling out a zero-minute Shorts limit for standard iOS and Android accounts.
It’s not a full fix, especially for standard adult accounts, but it’s the first Shorts limit that feels like it has some teeth.
YouTube’s earlier limits were too easy to ignore
YouTube’s earlier tools were pretty weak. The Show fewer Shorts button only hid the shelf for 30 days before resetting, and it didn’t even work reliably.
Even when YouTube added time limits last October, the smallest cap was 15 minutes. By then, you can already be deep in a brain rot hole.
A zero-minute limit changes things. It gives viewers an actual off switch. And the timing is perfect.
YouTube executives are already promoting generative AI tools that will let creators make Shorts backgrounds and games from text prompts.
That probably means the feed is about to get even more low-effort videos. A better native block should have happened already. But better late than never.
Where to find YouTube’s new Shorts limit
The setting lives in YouTube’s mobile app. Here’s how to use it:
- Tap your profile icon in the lower-right corner.
- Tap the gear icon.
- Go to the Time management dashboard.
- Under Daily limits, choose the Shorts feed limit toggle.
- Review the options, which run from 15 minutes up to 2 hours, plus the new zero-minute option.
- Select zero minutes.
You may need to fully close and reopen the app before the interface clears out the cached layout.
Parents get the stronger version of this feature
Guardians can set this up through Google Family Link or YouTube’s Family Center inside the app.
Open the Time Management dashboard for a supervised account, then lower the daily Shorts feed limit to zero.
After the limit is applied, the endless scrolling feed is shut off for the day, and teens cannot bypass the lock screen.
The bad news for me and my weak self-control is that standard adult accounts can dodge the limit. You can tap the Ignore button, and Shorts return for the rest of the day.
YouTube is blocking the loop, not the format
Keep in mind that the block doesn’t erase every short video. YouTube designed it to stop the swipe feed without fully cutting off creators.
Short-form videos from channels you follow still appear in the Subscriptions feed. Direct links will also work as before. Shorts sent by a friend open normally.
Standalone Shorts can also appear in search results. The important part is that you can’t keep swiping into an endless recommendation feed after the clip.
Desktop and TV users are still waiting
The zero-minute limit is currently limited to YouTube’s Android and iOS mobile apps. YouTube’s time management tools do not exist on the desktop website or TV apps yet.
If you want Shorts gone on a laptop, you still need third-party browser extensions or custom CSS workarounds.
My recommendation is Unhook. It’s a free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
With a few toggles, you can remove the Shorts tab, hide the recommended video sidebar, and even turn off comments.
The living room experience might be the most annoying part of this rollout. If you’re watching YouTube on a smart TV or gaming consoles with the official app, Google’s new time management tools aren’t there yet.
So the only native fix is to keep clicking Not Interested in Shorts sections until YouTube temporarily stops pushing them. It’s better than nothing, but not by much.
This is not enough, but it is a start
Shorts is too valuable for the company to fully step away from, especially while it’s fighting TikTok and Instagram for attention.
But with all three platforms facing more scrutiny over screen time controls, even a small off-switch matters. It also fits with YouTube’s recent push toward healthier viewing habits.
YouTube has been consulting mental health experts to reshape how it recommends content to teens.
Its safeguards now limit repeated recommendations of videos that may be harmless once, but potentially harmful in loops.
Adding a zero-minute doomscrolling limit on top of that is a good change. Well done, YouTube.
