YouTube keeps pushing Shorts back into your feed no matter how many times you swipe past them. A browser extension is the only way to make them stay gone on desktop. Here's what to look for and the cleanest option in 2026.

What a good Shorts-hiding extension must remove

Shorts isn't one element — it's several surfaces YouTube sprinkles across the site. A complete solution hides all of them:

  • The Shorts shelf on the homepage and in search results (the horizontal row of vertical videos).
  • The Shorts tab in the left sidebar and the mobile-style bottom bar.
  • The Shorts player itself, so a stray click doesn't drop you into the auto-advancing feed.

An extension that hides only the shelf but leaves the sidebar tab still leaves a door open. Look for one that covers all three.

Why an extension beats YouTube's settings

YouTube lets you temporarily collapse the Shorts shelf ("Not interested" → it returns in a few weeks), but there's no permanent off switch. An extension reapplies the hide on every page load, so Shorts never creeps back. That persistence is the whole point.

The cleanest option: hide Shorts and clean the feed

You can use a single-purpose "hide Shorts" extension, but most people who hate Shorts also want fewer clickbait and AI-farm channels. Blokari does both:

  1. Toggle Shorts off — it removes the shelf, the sidebar tab, and the player.
  2. Filter the junk channels — enable categories like clickbait, AI slop, and info-scams to clean what's left.
  3. Block your own time-sinks — add any channel to your blocklist with one click.

So instead of just deleting Shorts and leaving the rest of the noisy feed, you get a YouTube that's calm end to end.

What about Shorts on your phone?

Extensions can't run in the YouTube mobile app, so you can't hide the Shorts surface there directly. What you can do is train your Google account on desktop: as you block the channels behind the Shorts you keep seeing, Blokari can send YouTube's account-level "Don't recommend channel" signal, which reduces those channels across your signed-in devices. It won't remove the Shorts tab on mobile, but it does cut how much of that content reaches you.

Bottom line

Pick an extension that removes the shelf, the sidebar tab, and the player — not just one of them. If you also want fewer junk channels in the feed that's left, Blokari hides Shorts and filters the noise in one place, free. See the full Shorts blocker guide for a deeper comparison.

FAQ

What's the best extension to hide YouTube Shorts?

Any extension that removes the Shorts shelf, the sidebar Shorts tab, and redirects the Shorts player works. Blokari hides Shorts as part of a broader feed cleanup — it also lets you block junk channels — so you get a calmer YouTube, not just no Shorts.

Does hiding Shorts also stop them on mobile?

Extensions only run in desktop browsers, so the Shorts shelf is hidden there. On mobile, you can't remove Shorts with an extension, but training your account to deprioritize the channels behind them helps reduce what surfaces.

Will hiding Shorts break normal YouTube videos?

No. Hiding Shorts only removes the Shorts shelves, the sidebar tab, and the vertical player. Regular long-form videos, search, and subscriptions all work exactly as before.

Is hiding Shorts free?

Yes. Blokari hides Shorts for free on every tier, alongside its channel blocking. You don't need a paid plan to remove the Shorts surfaces.