How to Block YouTube Shorts on iPhone
The honest answer first: you cannot remove just the Shorts tab with iPhone's built-in tools. What you can do is stop Shorts in practice by blocking every way the feed reaches you.
Everything below can be done free with iPhone's own Screen Time. If you want the same system-level block wrapped in a session and a streak, SproutGuard does that on-device with no account.
What iPhone can and cannot block
Screen Time works at the app and website level. That means it can block YouTube and it can block youtube.com. It cannot say "allow YouTube, but hide Shorts". So if Shorts is the problem, the reliable move is to block YouTube during the hours where you lose control.
If you only want to remove Shorts while keeping long-form YouTube fully available on iPhone, there is no clean system-level switch for that today. Any guide that implies otherwise is either talking about a fragile account setting or a browser trick that stops working the moment you open the app again.
The setup that actually works
1. Block the YouTube app itself
- Open
Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit. - Choose Entertainment and select only YouTube.
- Set the limit to 1 minute.
- Tap Add.
This is the part that stops the Shorts tab inside the app, because it stops the whole app.
2. Block the website too
- Go to
Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictionsand turn it on. - Open
Content Restrictions > Web Content > Limit Adult Websites. - Under Never Allow, add
youtube.comandm.youtube.com.
If you skip this, the habit simply migrates from the app to Safari.
3. Put a passcode behind the override
Go to Settings > Screen Time > Lock Screen Time Settings and set a passcode you do not know by reflex. Without this, every block offers "Ignore Limit" and the whole setup turns decorative.
4. Add Downtime over the hours that actually break you
If Shorts is a bedtime problem, set Downtime for bedtime. If it is first-thing-in-the-morning, set it there. Narrow windows survive better than all-day lockdown because they feel accurate rather than punitive.
The loopholes that usually undo it
| Loophole | What fixes it |
|---|---|
| You open youtube.com in Safari | Block youtube.com and m.youtube.com under Web Content |
| You tap “Ignore Limit” | Screen Time passcode you do not have ready |
| You reinstall or re-enable the app on bad days | Disable Installing Apps behind the same passcode if this is your pattern |
| You switch to Reels or TikTok instead | Block the behaviour class, not only one logo |
If the problem is short-form video in general
That last row matters. Many people do block Shorts successfully and then simply migrate to TikTok or Reels. If what actually owns your attention is vertical short-form video, not YouTube as a brand, then the durable fix is blocking that whole category during your danger hours.
Built on Apple's Screen Time framework. No account, no cloud, nothing leaves your phone. Blocking + focus sessions + streaks, free on iOS.
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