YouTube stores your watch history and search history separately, and you can clear one, both, or pause them from recording
YouTube keeps two records: what you've watched and what you've searched for. Clearing your watch history removes the videos you've clicked on. Clearing your search history removes the terms you've typed into YouTube's search box. You can delete both right now, delete only one, or turn off recording so YouTube stops saving new activity going forward. The steps differ slightly depending on whether you're on a computer, phone, or tablet.
Most people want to clear history before someone else uses their device, or to stop YouTube from using past searches to suggest videos. Pausing history is useful if you want YouTube to stop recording without erasing what's already there.
Key Takeaways
- You can clear watch history and search history separately, or clear both at once from your YouTube account settings.
- On a computer, go to myaccount.google.com, select Data & Privacy, then YouTube and Google Play settings, then find Delete watch history or Delete search history.
- On a phone or tablet, open the YouTube app, tap your profile picture, select Settings, then History and privacy, then choose what to clear.
- Pausing history stops YouTube from recording new activity but keeps your old history intact until you manually delete it.
- Clearing history on one device does not clear it on other devices where you're signed in to the same Google account.
Clear history on a computer
Open a web browser and go to myaccount.google.com. Sign in with the Google account you use for YouTube. On the left side, click Data & Privacy.
Scroll down until you see YouTube and Google Play settings. Click it. You'll see two options: Delete watch history and Delete search history. Click whichever one you want to clear. A window will pop up asking you to confirm — click the button that says Delete all time to remove everything, or pick a date range if you only want to delete recent history. Then click Delete.
If you want to clear both at once, repeat the step for the second option. Your history will be gone when ready, though YouTube may take a few hours to stop showing recommendations based on old data.
Clear history on a phone or tablet
Open the YouTube app. Tap your profile picture in the top right corner. Select Settings. Tap History and privacy.
You'll see two options: Clear watch history and Clear search history. Tap whichever one you need. A confirmation message will appear — tap Clear watch history or Clear search history again to confirm. The history is deleted when ready.
On a phone, you can also clear history by tapping your profile picture, then History, then the three dots in the top right, then Clear all watch history. Both methods work the same way.
Pause history instead of deleting it
If you want YouTube to stop recording what you watch and search for, but you don't want to erase your old history, you can pause recording instead. On a computer, go to myaccount.google.com, click Data & Privacy, then YouTube and Google Play settings. Look for Pause watch history or Pause search history and click the toggle switch next to it.
On a phone or tablet, open YouTube, tap your profile picture, select Settings, then History and privacy. Toggle off Save your watch history or Save your search history. When paused, YouTube won't record new activity, but your old history stays in your account until you manually delete it.
If you pause history and then change your mind, you can turn it back on the same way. Turning it back on doesn't restore what you deleted — it just starts recording again from that point forward.
What happens when you clear history
When you clear watch history, YouTube stops using that data to recommend videos to you. Your recommendations will be based only on what you watch after you clear it. Videos you've already watched may still show a "watched" indicator if you visit them again, but they won't influence what YouTube suggests.
When you clear search history, YouTube forgets the terms you've typed into its search box. The search bar may still show autocomplete suggestions based on popular searches, but not your personal searches. Clearing search history does not affect your watch history or your recommendations.
Clearing history on YouTube does not clear your browser history. If you typed youtube.com into your browser's address bar, that may still appear in your browser's history. To clear that, you need to clear your browser history separately through your browser's settings.
History clears on this device only
When you clear history on your phone, it only clears history on that phone. If you're signed into the same Google account on a tablet or computer, your history is still there on those devices. YouTube stores history in your Google account, not on individual devices, so clearing it in one place clears it everywhere you're signed in — but only if you clear it through your account settings, not through the YouTube app on a single device.
If you want to clear history across all your devices at once, use the computer method: go to myaccount.google.com and clear it from there. That removes it from your Google account entirely, so it's gone on every device where you're signed in.
If you're worried about someone else seeing your history on a shared device, clearing it through the YouTube app on that device is usually enough. But if you want to be certain, use the account settings method to clear it from your Google account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does clearing YouTube history delete my saved playlists?
No. Clearing watch history and search history does not affect your playlists, liked videos, or subscriptions. Those are stored separately and will remain in your account.
Can I clear history for only certain videos?
YouTube doesn't offer a way to delete individual videos from your watch history through the app or account settings. You can only clear all history or pause recording going forward. If you want to remove one video from your recommendations, you can click the three dots next to it in your history and select "Remove from watch history," but this only works on videos you can still find.
Will clearing my history speed up YouTube?
Clearing history won't make YouTube load faster or run better. It only changes what YouTube recommends to you and what you see in your history page. If YouTube is running slowly, the problem is usually your internet connection or your device, not your history.
What if I clear history and then want it back?
Once you clear history, you cannot recover it. YouTube does not keep a backup of deleted history. If you think you might want to see what you watched, pause history instead of clearing it, or clear only recent history rather than all history.
Does YouTube know what I watched even after I clear history?
YouTube's servers have a record of what you watched, but clearing your history removes it from your account and stops it from being used for recommendations. YouTube may still use other data — like your location, device type, and the videos you watch after clearing — to suggest content.