How to Delete YouTube History (Clear Watch & Search Data)

Popular video streaming site, YouTube, keeps a record of what you search and watch on the platform. Utilizing this information, YouTube suggests videos that match your preferences. As a result, you spend more time on the site.

Deleting YouTube history on mobile phone is very convenient. Fortunately, when you delete history on the mobile app, it also deletes it on all other devices.

There are two types of YouTube history:

1) Watch history and
2) Search history

Both of them can be cleared using more than one method. Below, you will get all those techniques, so you can choose whichever you find easy.

Method 1: How to Delete YouTube History on Mobile App

YouTube search history comprises the keywords you enter to find something on the platform. You can either delete each search separately or all at once.

How to delete individually YouTube History on Mobile App

Here are steps to delete YouTube search history individually on a smartphone:

Step 1) Open YouTube app on your phone.

Step 2) Hit the Search icon next to the profile picture.

Step 3) Tap and hold the Clock next to the search term.

Step 4) Select the Remove option from the pop-up.

How to delete YouTube search history on a mobile device

Here are steps to delete the entire YouTube search history on a mobile device at once:

Step 1) Go to YouTube mobile app and tap on the display image.

Step 2) Then locate Settings and click on it.

Step 3) Locate “History and privacy” and select it.

Step 4) Here, tap the Clear search history option.

Step 5) Confirm your action by tapping Clear search history on Popup.

How to Delete YouTube Watch History on Mobile App

When you use YouTube, the platform keeps a record of watched videos in your “watch history,” also known as “feed history.” This feature works even if you don’t finish watching a video.

Like search history, you can remove individual videos from the list or delete your entire watch history.

Here are the steps to delete YouTube feed history on mobile individually:

Step 1) Open the YouTube app on your phone.

Step 2) Hit the Library tab at the bottom right of the screen.

Step 3) Click on History at the top.

Step 4) Now, tap on the three dots in front of the video you want to delete.

Step 5) Here, select the first option, “Remove from watch history.”

How to remove watch history at once

Here are the steps to clear watch history on the phone at once:

Step 1) Expand the phone app of YouTube. And Click on your profile photo at the top.

Step 2) Go to the Settings option.

Step 3) Here, navigate to “History and privacy.”

Step 4) Tap Clear watch History option at the top.

Step 5) It may ask you to confirm. Do it.

Tip: Open YouTube > Library tab > History > Three dots next to magnifying glass > Clear all watch history.

How to Delete YouTube History on Your Mobile

If you want to delete both YouTube histories on your smartphone, the process may seem hectic. Moreover, deleting YouTube history removes all kinds of records on the platform.

Here are the steps to delete YouTube history on your phone:

Step 1) Enter the YouTube application.

Step 2) Tap the profile image at the top of the screen.

Step 3) Select Settings from the list.

Step 4) Click on the “Manage all history” option.

Note: If you are logged in with multiple Google accounts. Select the one you are currently using for YouTube.

Here, it will show you all the Search and Watch records together.

Step 5) Tap on the “Delete” option with an arrow.

Step 6) Select the “Delete all time” option to remove everything to date.

Step 7) Confirm it by hitting on the “Delete” option.

After this, all your activities on YouTube get erased. YouTube will not be able to give you suggestions based on your previous record. Now, you will have to build a new history.

Automatically Clear YouTube History on Mobile Phone

For your convenience, YouTube also gives you the option to set the time frame to delete YouTube history automatically. Check out the guide to automatically delete YouTube history on your phone:

Step 1) Navigate to the YouTube mobile app and click on the profile picture.

Step 2) Go to the Settings option.

Step 3) Here, locate Manage all history and open it.

Step 4) Select the second option, “auto-delete,” with the Bin and Clock icon.

Step 5) Check the “Auto-delete activity older than” option.

Step 6) And choose the duration from the drop-down menu.

Step 7) Finally, hit the Next button present at the bottom. And then, “Got it.”

Note: From now on, after every 3, 18, or 36 months, YouTube will automatically delete your activities on the platform.

Method 2: Delete YouTube History on Your Computer

Deleting your YouTube history on the computer is similar to a mobile phone. Here you also get multiple ways to remove it from the server, but with different techniques.

Here are the steps to clear individual YouTube search and watch history on Computer:

Step 1) Visit YouTube.com on the browser and check if you are logged in.

Step 2) If not, then log in with your Google account.

Step 3) Click on your profile picture at the top right corner.

Step 4) Select “Your data in YouTube” from the drop-down menu.

Note: Here, you will see your searches and watched videos in separate groups.

Step 5) Click on Manage your YouTube Watch History.

Step 7) Now, you can delete them individually by hitting the “Cross” icon in front of each of them.

Extra tip to delete a single video: Login to YouTube > Select History from the side menu > Hover to the video > Hit Cross icon.

Clear the Entire Watch History on Computer

On the Computer, there is no way to only delete YouTube search history, but you can remove the list of videos you watched.

Here are the steps to entirely delete YouTube feed history on PC:

Step 1) Open YouTube.com on the browser of your computer.

Step 2) Login, into your YouTube account:

After you log in, you will see the History option on the left. If not, click on the Three parallel lines in the top left corner.

Step 3) On YouTube history page, you will see all the videos you have watched.

Step 4) Select “Clear all watch history” from the left side.

Step 5) Next, a prompt will come up. Click on “Clear watch history” to confirm.

Delete the Whole YouTube Watch and Search History on the Computer

YouTube history is useful as it lets the recommendation feature give search suggestions close to your interest. You must have experienced that even before you completely enter your search, YouTube predicts it accurately and saves you time.

But you may not want that and like to browse the platform. For this, you need to delete your previous history on YouTube.

Here are the steps to clear YouTube history on your computer completely:

Step 1) Go to YouTube.com on your laptop/computer.

And Click on the display image of your profile.

Step 2) Choose the “Your Data on YouTube” option from the drop-down.

Step 3) Now, Hit on “Manage your YouTube Search History.”

Step 4) Locate the “Delete” button. Click on it.

Step 5) Select the “Delete all time” option. But if you want to clear just today’s history, you can select that.

Step 6) Confirm it by hitting on the “Delete” button.

Automatically Delete Your YouTube Search and Watch history on Computer.

In order to make its users’ life easy, YouTube automatically deletes history on the computer. With a few steps, you can set the direction for YouTube to do this after a particular period.

Here are the steps to automatically delete YouTube history on your PC:

Step 1) Open the YouTube site on your browser.

And Navigate to Profile Picture > Your Data on YouTube.

Step 2) Click on Manage your YouTube Search History.

Step 3) Select the auto-delete option.

Note: A prompt will appear with different options.

Step 5) Select your desired period after clicking on the drop-down menu. And hit on Next.

Step 6) Confirm it and then click Got it.

Method 3: How to Avoid YouTube History Keeping

If you don’t want to keep your history then you have two options for that. With these techniques, you can avoid YouTube history. One solution will permanently fix the problem, and the second requires effort before every session.

How to Pause YouTube History on Mobile

Pausing your YouTube history is the best to avoid the continuous worry of someone discovering your history on YouTube. Once this feature is enabled, you can browse whatever you want on a computer or mobile without leaving a record of your activity.

Similar to all the methods explained above, there are several ways to pause YouTube history on mobile.

Here are the steps to pause YouTube history from the settings of the application:

Step 1) Go to your YouTube app and open Settings.

Step 2) Find “History and privacy” and select it.

Step 3) Here, you will see two options: Pause Watch History & Pause Search History.

Step 4) You can either pause both or just one.

How to pause YouTube history using advanced setting

Here are the steps to pause YouTube history using advanced settings on your phone:

Step 1) Open History and privacy option from the settings of the YouTube app.

Step 2) Select “Manage your activity” from the menu.

Step 3) Tap on the “Saving your YouTube history” option or “Controls” tab.

Step 4) Here, Check all or any one or two options under Sub settings.

Step 5) Then, hit the TURN OFF button.

Step 6) A new page will open. Scroll to the bottom and then tap on the Pause option.

Extra tip: Pause only Watch History: YouTube app > Library tab > History > Three dots next to search icon > Pause watch history.

How to Pause YouTube History on Computer

If you use YouTube only on pc, you can still pause your history. Unlike mobile, this may be less complicated, but it also offers more than one method, especially for deleting watch history.

Here are the steps to pause YouTube history from advanced settings using Computer:

Step 1) Log in to your YouTube account on Computer.

And Click on your photo at the top right corner, and select “Your data in YouTube.”

Step 2) Scroll and select “Manage your YouTube Watch History.”

Step 3) Open the first option, “Saving your YouTube History.”

Step 4) Check the type of histories you want to pause permanently in the first section.

Step 5) Then click on the “TURN OFF” button.

Step 6) Next, select the “Pause” option and then “Got it.”

How to pause YouTube watch history using Computer:

Here are the steps to pause YouTube watch history using Computer:

Step 1) On the home page of YouTube.com, click on three lines to reveal options.

And Choose the History option from the list.

Step 2) Hit on Pause watch history on the right side.

Step 3) And select the Pause option.

Use Incognito Mode on Computer & Mobile

You must be familiar with incognito mode. It allows you to avoid storing any activity you make on the internet. On a computer, there is only one traditional method to use this function, but in the mobile phone app, YouTube provides a built-in feature.

For the Computer, click on the three dots of your browser and select New incognito window. In the new window, all your activities will be unrecordable.

Here are the steps to use YouTube incognito mode on mobile:

Step 1) Expand the YouTube mobile app.

Step 2) Tap on your profile picture.

Step 3) Select the Turn on Incognito option.

Note: When you start seeing the Incognito logo at the top right corner, your YouTube app is not recording your activities.