How to Clear YouTube Search History

Keep your searches private

by
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Freelance Contributor
Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others.
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Elise Moreau
Updated on September 11, 2020

When you search for something on YouTube while signed in to your account, the search term is stored in your account search history. If you don't want that information stored, you can clear your YouTube history at any time. You can also pause your search history to temporarily block YouTube from tracking it.

How to Clear Your YouTube Search History From YouTube.com

Follow these instructions to clear your YouTube search history on a web browser.

  1. Sign in to your account at YouTube.com.

  2. Go to the left menu pane and select History.

    The History tab on YouTube

  3. Go to the History type menu in the right pane and select Search history.

    Search History under "History type"

  4. Select Clear All Search History.

    The "Clear All Search History" command

You can delete individual searches instead of clearing searches all at one time. Find your searches in the Search history list. The most recent searches are at the top. Select the X icon next to an individual item to delete it.

How to Clear Your YouTube Search History From the YouTube App

Follow these instructions to clear your YouTube search history on the YouTube app.

  1. Open the YouTube app on your device and sign in to your account.

  2. On an iOS device, select your account profile icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. On an Android device, select the menu icon represented by three vertical dots.

  3. On the following tab, select Settings.

  4. On the next tab, scroll down or tap to view the History & privacy section, then select Clear search history.

    Clearing search history in YouTube for iOS

  5. A pop-up appears and asks if you're sure you want to clear your search history. Select OK to clear it.

To delete individual searches from the YouTube app, tap the magnifying glass icon. A list of your previous searches appears beneath the search field. On iOS, swipe left on a search and select the Delete button that appears. On Android, tap and hold a search term. In the pop-up box that appears, tap Remove to delete it from your search history.

How to Pause Your YouTube Search History

Clearing your search history all the time can be inconvenient. A better option is to pause it so that YouTube temporarily stops tracking it. It remains on pause until you turn it back on again.

On YouTube.com, pausing your search history can be done by selecting the History tab and then selecting Pause Search History.

The "Pause Search History" command on YouTube.com

On the YouTube iOS app, tap your account profile, then tap Settings > Pause search history.

On the YouTube Android app, select the menu icon represented by three vertical dots, tap Settings > History & privacy, then turn on Pause search history.

The "Pause search history" command on YouTube for iOS

Why People Clear Their YouTube Search History

Your YouTube searches can't be seen or accessed by other YouTube users or people who visit your channel. However, your search history influences how YouTube chooses to show content.

YouTube displays a selection of recommended videos on the home page of your account based on your search history. When your YouTube search history is cleared, these recommended videos will no longer reflect what you've previously searched.

Your search history also prompts YouTube to automatically suggest past searches in the drop-down menu that appears when you start typing in the search box. These past search suggestions will no longer appear once you've cleared your search history.

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