How to Delete YouTube Watch History and Search History
YouTube identifies every video you’ve ever watched, allowing you’re signed in with your Google account. YouTube uses this history for recommendations and also helps you to re-watch old videos. Here’s how to delete your watch history—or stop collecting it.
The watch and search histories are just stored if you’re signed into YouTube with your Google account while watching.
Delete Items From Your Both Watch History and Search History
YouTube’s Android app should use an Incognito Mode you can provide to stop it from collecting history briefly. You can also have YouTube stop collecting your watch history completely using the instructions here. Therefore, if you’re about to watch something you don’t need in your history, use the following tips instead.
However, if you’ve already watched a video, Incognito Mode won’t help, and you’ll need to clear it from your history if you don’t need to see it again.
To do this in your web browser, top to the YouTube website, and click the menu button on this top left corner of the page. Click the “History” option below Library in the sidebar.
To delete an item from your watch history, click or tap the “X” to the right of it. You must hang over the video with your mouse to see the “X” on the desktop website.
You can also choose “Search History” here to see the entire list of searches you’ve made on YouTube. Next, click the “X” to the right of a search to delete it.
You can further delete items from your watch history in the YouTube app for iPhone, Android, and iPad.
To do so, tap this “Library” icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the app and tap the “History” option.
Tap this menu button to the right of a video, and then tap the “Remove From Watch History” option.
We don’t see your complete search history and clear individual searches from it in the YouTube mobile app. You can use the YouTube website to clear personal searches. You can also remove your whole YouTube search history from the app using the following instructions.
Delete Your Complete Watch History and Search History
First, then deleting individual watched videos, you can clear your whole watch history from Google’s servers. Be warned: That will make YouTube’s video recommendations worse, as YouTube won’t know what types of videos you like watching.
To do this on the YouTube website, next click the menu button at the top left corner of the page and click the “History” option. Next, click the “Clear All Watch History” command to the right of your watched videos.
A dialog box will look, asking you for confirmation. And Click “Clear Watch History” to confirm your choice.
To clear your YouTube search history, click “Search History” under History Type here, and next click the “Clear All Search History” command.
To clear your complete history in the YouTube mobile app, start to Library > History. Tap this menu button at the top of the app, and next tap the “History Settings” option.
Scroll down and tap “Clear Watch History” below History & Privacy.
You can further tap “Clear Search History” hitherto clear your complete YouTube search history.
Use YouTube’s Incognito Mode
If you’re about to watch any embarrassing videos you don’t need YouTube to remember next, try using YouTube’s Incognito Mode.
To now, YouTube’s Incognito Mode is new and only available in the Android app. In the future, Google will probably add this feature to the iPhone app, website, and YouTube apps for different platforms.
To allow Incognito Mode, tap your profile picture at the top right corner of the YouTube Android app, and next tap “Incognito Mode” on the menu screen that looks. Authorizing Incognito Mode, any searches you make, and won’t be saved videos you watch in the current session.
Pause YouTube History Collection
You can’t let YouTube’s Incognito Mode on most platforms, but you can do something about as much: Pause your YouTube watch history before watching something you don’t need in your history.
The setting is account-wide, so YouTube will close remembering videos you watched on all your devices—iPhone, iPad, Android, website, Roku, smart TV, or anything more—allowing you’re signed into YouTube with your account on that device.
To do this by the web, visit YouTube’s website, and click the “History” option. Click this “Pause Watch History” link to the right of your YouTube watch history.
YouTube will notify you that it won’t collect any watch history while you’ve paused this, which will make its recommendations worse. Click “Pause” to continue.
You can also choose “Search History” here and click “Pause Search History” to stop YouTube from remembering the searches you make.
To do this by the YouTube app for iPhone, Android, or iPad, top to Library > History. About the History page, open the menu, and then tap the “History Settings” button.
Scroll down to this History and Privacy section and activate the “Pause Watch History” option.
You can further activate the “Pause Search History” choice here to stop YouTube from collecting your search history.
YouTube will stop remembering the videos you’ve watched. Therefore you can watch all the Peppa Pig you need without YouTube remembering.
When you’re finished binging and need YouTube to remember your watch history, repeat, return hither, and next click “Turn On Watch History” (on the website) and disable the “Pause Watch History” choice (in the app).
You can watch history disabled for as long as you wish—also forever. It’s up to you.
To have children’s videos out of your YouTube history, you could also provide them the YouTube Kids app. Videos and Searches in the child-friendly YouTube Kids app won’t look in your regular YouTube watch history.
Remember: If you’ve paused your YouTube watch history, your web browser will yet keep storing the YouTube web pages you observe in your browsing history. That doesn’t use if you’re watching YouTube in an app, of course. However, your browser will remember YouTube web pages like some other page you’ve visited in a browser.
