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YouTube without Shorts.

Search, subscriptions and full-length videos stay. The vertical feed goes.

Updated July 2026

The short answer

YouTube has no real off switch for Shorts — hiding the shelf is temporary and the Shorts tab stays. Sociano opens YouTube in a controlled in-app view and removes Shorts routes, Shorts shelves and swipe-to-the-next chaining, while search, subscriptions and full-length videos keep working.

What changes — and what stays

Removed

  • ✕The Shorts tab and Shorts routes
  • ✕Shorts shelves inside search and home
  • ✕Swipe-forward chaining into the next short video
  • ✕The home-feed pull when you only came to search

Kept

  • ✓Search
  • ✓Your subscriptions
  • ✓Full-length videos and playlists
  • ✓Links people send you

How it works

  1. 1

    Download Sociano

    Get Sociano on the App Store. It's free to download on iPhone, and setup takes about a minute.

  2. 2

    Open YouTube inside Sociano

    Sign in with your Google account through YouTube's official login. Sociano's YouTube rules run during the session, removing Shorts surfaces while search, subscriptions and full videos work normally.

  3. 3

    Add native-app blocking (optional)

    If muscle memory keeps opening the YouTube app directly, enable Sociano's native app blocking. It uses Apple's Screen Time framework, so the calm route becomes the default one.

Download on the App Store

Why this beats a timer

YouTube is genuinely useful — tutorials, lectures, music, the channels you chose to follow. Shorts are a different product grafted onto it: a vertical feed designed to turn a two-minute search into a long swipe session.

A timer only tells you the time is already gone. Sociano changes the route instead, so the easiest path through YouTube is search, subscriptions and full videos — not the feed.

Good to know

Sociano opens YouTube as a controlled web experience instead of modifying the official app, so some native-only features — offline downloads, for example — can be limited.

Rules apply inside Sociano's sessions; the native YouTube app is untouched unless you enable the optional Screen Time block. The full honest list is on our limitations page.

Frequently asked

Can I still use YouTube for tutorials and research?▼
Yes. Sociano is designed to preserve search and full-length videos while removing Shorts and feed-heavy paths.
Can't I just tap “Not interested” on Shorts?▼
You can, but YouTube only hides the shelf temporarily and the Shorts tab stays. There is no permanent setting to disable Shorts — which is why Sociano removes the surface at the session level instead.
What if a Short shows up in search results?▼
Sociano can handle narrow exceptions while still preventing the vertical chain into the next Short — one video doesn't have to become a feed.
Does this work with YouTube Premium?▼
You sign in with your own Google account, so subscriptions and web-supported Premium benefits like ad-free viewing carry over. Native-only extras such as offline downloads stay in the official app.

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