Did you know YouTube maintains a list of every search you’ve ever made via YouTube’s search box?
And did you know they also maintain a list of every video you have ever watched on their site?
This might not seem like a big deal to some folks, especially if the things they search for and the videos they watch aren’t controversial in any way.
However, you might consider it a huge deal if you go to great lengths to protect your online privacy.
If privacy is important to you, I can certainly understand why you might not want everything you search for and watch on YouTube to be stored in a history file.
Luckily, YouTube has made it very easy to clear your existing “Search History” and “Watch History” files and then disable them altogether if you’re inclined to do so. Just follow the steps below.
Note: This procedure must be done while using YouTube in a browser on a laptop or desktop computer because there is no way to do it using the YouTube mobile app.
However, disabling Search History and Watch History on a computer will also disable them in the mobile app.
First, let’s clear and then disable your YouTube “Watch History”:
1 – Visit YouTube.com and log in to your account.
2 – Click the History link in the left-hand column. Your account’s “Watch History” should now be displayed on the screen.
3 – Click the Clear All Watch History link in the right-hand column, then click Clear Watch History in the box that popped up. Your Watch History should now be empty.
4 – Click the Pause Watch History link, then click Pause.
Next, we’ll clear and disable your YouTube “Search History”:
1 – Click the Search history link in the right-hand column. Your account’s “Search History” should now be displayed on the screen.
2 – Click the Clear All Search History link, then click Clear Search History in the box that popped up. Your Search History should now be empty.
3 – Click the Pause Search History link, then click Pause.
That’s all there is to it. Your search and watch histories on YouTube should now be empty and YouTube shouldn’t be collecting that data in the future (unless you decide to turn those features back on at some point).
Bonus tip #1: This post explains how to clear your “Search History” on Google.
Bonus tip #2: Want to make sure you never miss one of my tips? Click here to join my Rick’s Tech Tips Facebook Group!
If Facebook isn’t your cup of tea, I invite you to sign up for my Rick’s Daily Tips Daily Update Newsletter.
Want to ask Rick a tech question? Click here and send it in!
If you found this post useful, would you mind helping me out by sharing it? Just click one of the handy social media sharing buttons below.