YouTube Shorts can be mostly turned off with new setting [Gallery]

9to5Google • April 16, 2026 • general

Key Points:

YouTube has expanded its Shorts timer feature to allow users to effectively disable Shorts by setting the timer to zero minutes, removing Shorts from the homepage.
This zero-minute timer option is currently live for all parents and is being rolled out to all users.
When the timer is set to zero, users will see a full-screen notice after scrolling through Shorts, indicating they have reached their limit, though Shorts remain accessible in the Subscriptions feed and individually.
The update builds on YouTube's previous timer feature introduced in October, which allowed users to set usage limits between 15 minutes and 2 hours.
YouTube continues to experiment with Shorts, including testing AI-generated creator posts and avatars, as well as AI-created videos using existing Shorts content.