How-To
Here’s how to delete that embarrassing YouTube history
You can erase your YouTube history in just a few steps.
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I’m sure most of us spend a lot of time just watching random videos on YouTube. Due to this, sometimes something embarrassing pops up on the service.
Apart from that, there might be users who don’t want YouTube to start recommending similar videos, just because you have watched one video that might pertain to it.
Whatever the reason, don’t fret! In this post, we will teach you how to wipe your YouTube watch history clean.
How to erase your YouTube history
Google provides users with various option to control their search and watch history on YouTube. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Open your default web browser on desktop and visit Youtube.com.
2. Click on the Hamburger icon available on the top-left side and select History from the menu.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
3. Next, head over to the ‘History type‘ section available on the upper right side. Under this, you need to select ‘Watch History‘ option.
On the left side, you will list of all the videos which you have watched while signed into your account across devices.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
To clear the watch history, you need to click on the link which reads “Clear all watch history.” This will delete all the videos you have watched.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
Once you click on the same option, a dialog box will open up giving all the information. You need to click on the Clear Watch History option to confirm the decision.
In case you don’t want YouTube to remember about the videos you watch going forward; then you can also select ‘Pause Watch History.’
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
Similar to Clear all watch history, you will get a similar dialog box, here you need to select “Pause” to confirm the decision.
If you want to manage YouTube search history; then you can select ‘Search History‘ this will show you a list of the searches accompanied by Close icon X next to every search query. Click the one you want to remove from the search history.
From the Activity controls website
1. You need to head over to Google’s Activity Control page on the desktop.
2. Here on this page, you need to scroll down to the section which reads ‘YouTube Search History.’ Here, you need to move the ‘YouTube Search History‘ slider option to the OFF position.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
Apart from this, if you want to wipe the search history, then click on ‘Manage Activity‘ option. On the next page, you need to click ‘Delete history by‘ option available on the top-left side.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
Next, choose the period for which you want to wipe search history.
Image: Viney Dhiman / KnowTechie
YouTube Watch History
You can repeat the same steps discussed above for YouTube watch history. Using the options, you can pause and delete watch history.
That’s it, you now know how to delete your YouTube history. Easy, huh?
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