Tapping "Show fewer Shorts" again and again doesn't remove them: how to get rid of Shorts on iPhone and keep normal videos (2026)

minulo is an iPhone app that opens YouTube's website with the Shorts shelf and the Shorts tab hidden, so Shorts stay gone while normal videos, search and subscriptions keep working. Hiding Shorts is free. (I'm the developer of minulo.)

The full setup and every built-in option are on this page: https://minulo.app/en/block-youtube-shorts.html?ref=devto-1102

The loop

You open YouTube to watch one video from a channel you follow. The Shorts shelf is on Home again, so you tap the menu above it and choose Show fewer Shorts. A few days later there are Shorts on Home again, and you do it again.

That is how Show fewer Shorts is meant to work. YouTube's help describes it as feedback that shows fewer Shorts on pages such as Home and Watch Next. It doesn't promise to remove them and gives no period. You can even undo it: My Activity › Other activity › Show fewer Shorts › Delete.

What else YouTube offers, and where it stops

• Shorts feed limit at 0 (You › Settings › Time management › Shorts feed limit). YouTube's help covers the Shorts feed only, and when you reach the limit you are "prompted with an option to dismiss or ignore your set limit." News reports from April 2026 say Shorts still show in Subscriptions and a single Short opened from a link still plays.
• The X on the Shorts shelf, where it appears. YouTube's help doesn't describe it. SlashGear and GeekChamp report a message saying the shelf is hidden for 30 days.
• Turning off watch history removes Home recommendations, according to YouTube's help, but Shorts still show in the Shorts tab, search, Subscriptions and channel pages.

Each one lowers Shorts in one place. None of them is a switch.

Hide Shorts in minulo

1. Install minulo, tap Add a service on the home screen and choose YouTube.
2. Tap the gear next to YouTube and turn on Hide the Shorts shelf, Hide the Shorts tab and Send Shorts links to the normal player.
3. Open Subscriptions, Watch later and search from the minulo home screen as usual.

These are settings, so they stay on until you change them. Shorts are hidden only inside minulo; the official YouTube app doesn't change. If you keep opening that app out of habit, the Block tab can lock it with Screen Time, free for up to 2 hours per block.

Limits

minulo can't change the official apps. While it blocks an official app, that app's notifications don't arrive, and minulo sends none of its own. minulo runs on iPhone and Mac, not Android.