How to turn off YouTube autoplay and recommendations on iPhone
To turn off autoplay in the YouTube app on iPhone, tap your profile picture, tap Settings at the top right, tap Autoplay and switch it off. Home recommendations are a separate thing: YouTube's help says that if you don't want video recommendations on Home, you can delete and turn off your watch history. If you'd rather keep your history, you can watch YouTube in minulo with Home recommendations and Shorts hidden, for free.
This page is written by the developer of minulo. Facts about YouTube come from the sources listed below, checked on 2026-10-23. Menu names can change with app updates.
| Option | What it does | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Autoplay off (Settings → Autoplay) | When a video ends, the next one doesn't start by itself. | It's set per device. The switch at the top of the video player changes it too. |
| Pause and delete watch history | YouTube's help: "If you don't want video recommendations on Home, you can delete and turn off your watch history." | Videos you watch while history is off won't show up in your history. |
| Not interested / Don't recommend channel (⋮ next to a video) | Tells YouTube which videos or channels you don't want to see. | It only tunes your recommendations. Home still shows recommendations. |
| Show fewer Shorts (⋮ at the top of a Shorts grid on Home) | Fewer Shorts on pages such as Home and Watch Next. | Fewer, not none. |
| minulo (free) | Shows YouTube with Home recommendations, Shorts or both hidden. Subscriptions, Watch later and search keep working. | Only inside minulo. The official YouTube app can be blocked with Screen Time. |
Turn off autoplay in the YouTube app on iPhone
- Tap your profile picture.
- At the top right of the screen, tap Settings.
- Tap Autoplay.
- Switch autoplay off.
You can also tap the Autoplay switch at the top of the video player on any watch screen. If autoplay is on and you only want to stop the next video, tap Cancel at the end of the video.
- Autoplay can be set differently on each device. Turning it off on your computer doesn't turn it off in the iPhone app.
- For users aged 13 to 17, autoplay is off by default. On a supervised account, you may not be able to change it if a parent or guardian has turned it off.
- On a mobile network, autoplay stops on its own after 30 minutes without activity. On Wi‑Fi, it stops after 4 hours.
Remove recommendations from the YouTube Home feed
To pause watch history in the YouTube app on iPhone:
- Sign in to the YouTube app.
- Tap your profile picture.
- Tap Settings, then Manage all history.
- Tap the Controls tab.
- Unselect "Include the YouTube videos you watch."
YouTube's help says Home recommendations are removed when you have no relevant or significant recent watch history and have said you don't want recommendations based on that history. That is why it pairs turning history off with deleting it. In Manage all history, tap the delete icon next to a video, or use DELETE to remove more at once. Using DELETE also deletes your search history for the time frame you choose.
Tune what YouTube recommends
If you want to keep recommendations but see less of something, tap More (⋮) next to a video on Home and choose Not interested, or choose Don't recommend channel for a channel you don't want. To see fewer Shorts, scroll to a grid of Shorts on Home, tap More at the top of the grid, and tap Show fewer Shorts. You can clear this feedback later in Google's My Activity.
Hide recommendations and Shorts in minulo, and keep your history
minulo is an iPhone app that opens YouTube inside the app. You can hide Home recommendations, Shorts, everything on Home except search, or comments, one item at a time, and change it whenever you like.
- Install minulo from the App Store.
- On the home screen, tap "Add a service" and choose YouTube.
- Tap the gear next to YouTube and turn on Home recommendations and Shorts.
- To stop the official app too, open the "Block" tab, allow Screen Time, and choose YouTube in "Apps to block". The official app then shows a "Blocked" screen, and "Open in minulo" takes you to minulo.
Hiding content on YouTube and blocking the official app are free.
How do I turn off autoplay on YouTube on iPhone?
In the YouTube app, tap your profile picture, tap Settings at the top right, tap Autoplay and switch it off. You can also use the Autoplay switch at the top of the video player.
How do I turn off recommendations on the YouTube homepage?
YouTube's help says that if you don't want video recommendations on Home, you can delete and turn off your watch history. To pause it on iPhone, tap your profile picture, then Settings, Manage all history, the Controls tab, and unselect "Include the YouTube videos you watch." Home recommendations are removed when you have no relevant recent watch history and have said you don't want recommendations based on it.
Why does YouTube still autoplay after I turned it off?
Autoplay is set separately on each device. Turning it off on your computer doesn't turn it off in the YouTube app on your iPhone, so check Settings, then Autoplay, in the app itself.
How do I stop YouTube from playing another video at the end?
Turn off Autoplay, or tap Cancel at the end of a video while Autoplay is on. YouTube's help also says the next video won't play automatically if you scroll past the video player or start typing, for example a comment or a search.
Can I hide YouTube recommendations without deleting my watch history?
The way YouTube's help gives for removing Home recommendations is deleting and turning off watch history. Not interested and Don't recommend channel only change what gets recommended. If you want to keep your history, minulo opens YouTube with Home recommendations hidden while Subscriptions, Watch later and search still work. It's free.
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