How to Clear Your YouTube Search History

Why Should You Clear Your YouTube Search History?

Clearing your YouTube search history can be beneficial in several ways. First, it can protect your privacy by removing any trace of the videos you have watched and the searches you have made on the platform. This can be especially important if you share your device with others or use a public computer.

Second, clearing your search history can help improve your video recommendations on YouTube. YouTube uses your search history to personalize your video suggestions and recommendations. If you have been watching a lot of videos on a certain topic, YouTube may continue to recommend similar content to you. Clearing your search history can reset these recommendations and provide you with a more diverse selection of videos to watch.

Lastly, clearing your search history can simply help you keep your YouTube account organized. If you regularly search for videos on different topics, your search history can quickly become cluttered. By clearing it out, you can keep your YouTube account streamlined and easy to navigate.

How to Clear Your YouTube Search History on Desktop

Clearing your YouTube search history on desktop is a quick and easy process. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open YouTube and make sure you’re signed in to your account.
2. Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the screen to open the YouTube menu.
3. Scroll down and click on “History.”
4. Click on “Search History” on the left-hand side of the screen.
5. Click on “Clear All Search History” at the top of the page.
6. Click “Clear All Search History” again to confirm.

That’s it! Your entire search history on YouTube will be deleted. Keep in mind that this will not delete your watch history or your subscriptions. If you want to clear those as well, you will need to do so separately.

How to Clear Your YouTube Search History on Mobile Devices

Clearing your YouTube search history on mobile devices is slightly different than on desktop. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the YouTube app and make sure you’re signed in to your account.
2. Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Tap on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
4. Tap on “History & privacy.”
5. Tap on “Clear search history” at the bottom of the page.
6. Tap “Clear” to confirm.

That’s it! Your entire search history on the YouTube app will be deleted. Again, keep in mind that this will not delete your watch history or your subscriptions. If you want to clear those as well, you will need to do so separately.

How to Pause Your YouTube Search History

If you don’t want to delete your entire YouTube search history but want to stop YouTube from tracking your future searches, you can pause your search history. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open YouTube and make sure you’re signed in to your account.
2. Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the screen to open the YouTube menu.
3. Scroll down and click on “History.”
4. Click on “Search History” on the left-hand side of the screen.
5. Click on “Pause Watch History” at the top of the page.

That’s it! YouTube will no longer track your search history until you unpause it. If you want to resume tracking your search history, simply click on “Resume Watch History” on the same page.

How to Clear Your YouTube Watch History

Clearing your YouTube watch history is a separate process from clearing your search history. If you want to clear your watch history, here’s how to do it:

On Desktop:

1. Open YouTube and make sure you’re signed in to your account.
2. Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the screen to open the YouTube menu.
3. Scroll down and click on “History.”
4. Click on “Watch History” on the left-hand side of the screen.
5. Click on “Clear All Watch History” at the top of the page.
6. Click “Clear All Watch History” again to confirm.

On Mobile Devices:

1. Open the YouTube app and make sure you’re signed in to your account.
2. Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Tap on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
4. Tap on “History & privacy.”
5. Tap on “Clear watch history” at the bottom of the page.
6. Tap “Clear” to confirm.

That’s it! Your entire watch history on YouTube will be deleted. Keep in mind that this will not delete your search history or your subscriptions. If you want to clear those as well, you will need to do so separately.