How to Delete Your YouTube Watch History
Introduction to YouTube Watch History
YouTube Watch History is a feature that allows you to keep track of the videos you’ve watched on the platform. Your Watch History is saved to your account and is used to recommend new videos that may interest you based on your past viewing habits.
While some users may find this feature helpful, others may prefer to keep their viewing habits private or simply want to clear out their Watch History for a fresh start. Whatever your reason, it’s important to know how to delete your YouTube Watch History.
In the following sections, we’ll cover why you might want to delete your Watch History, as well as how to delete your entire Watch History or specific videos from your Watch History. We’ll also cover how to set up automatic deletion of your Watch History for added convenience.
Why You Might Want to Delete Your YouTube Watch History
There are several reasons why you might want to delete your YouTube Watch History. Here are a few:
Privacy: If you share your device or YouTube account with others, you may not want them to see your viewing history.
Recommendations: If you’ve watched a video that you don’t want YouTube to use as a basis for future video recommendations, deleting it from your Watch History can help ensure that you see more relevant recommendations.
Embarrassment: We all have those guilty pleasure videos that we don’t necessarily want others to know we’ve watched. Deleting them from your Watch History can help keep your viewing habits private.
Clearing clutter: If your Watch History is cluttered with videos you’re no longer interested in, deleting them can help keep your recommendations fresh and relevant.
Whatever your reason, deleting your YouTube Watch History is a simple process that can help keep your viewing habits private and your recommendations tailored to your interests.
How to Delete Your Entire YouTube Watch History
If you want to start fresh with your YouTube Watch History, deleting your entire history is a straightforward process. Here’s how:
Sign in to your YouTube account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
Click on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
In the left-hand menu, click on “History.”
Click on “Clear Watch History” at the top of the page.
Confirm that you want to delete your Watch History by clicking “Clear Watch History” again.
Your entire YouTube Watch History will now be deleted. Keep in mind that this action cannot be undone, so make sure you’re ready to clear your history before you proceed.
It’s worth noting that clearing your Watch History will not affect your YouTube search history or your YouTube subscriptions. If you want to clear those as well, you’ll need to do so separately.
How to Delete Specific Videos from Your YouTube Watch History
If you only want to delete certain videos from your YouTube Watch History, you can do so by following these steps:
Sign in to your YouTube account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
Click on “History” in the dropdown menu.
Find the video you want to remove and click the three-dot icon next to it.
Click on “Remove from Watch History.”
Confirm that you want to delete the video from your Watch History by clicking “Remove.”
The video will now be removed from your Watch History. Repeat these steps for any additional videos you want to delete.
Note that deleting a video from your Watch History will not delete the video itself or affect your YouTube recommendations. It simply removes the video from your personal Watch History.
How to Automatically Delete Your YouTube Watch History
If you want to ensure that your YouTube Watch History is automatically deleted on a regular basis, you can set up automatic deletion using these steps:
Sign in to your YouTube account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
Click on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
In the left-hand menu, click on “History.”
Under “History Type,” select “YouTube Watch History.”
Select how long you want YouTube to keep your Watch History before automatically deleting it. You can choose to have your history deleted every 3 months, every 18 months, or manually.
Click “Save” to save your settings.
From now on, your YouTube Watch History will be automatically deleted according to the schedule you set. This can be a convenient way to ensure that your viewing habits remain private without having to remember to manually delete your history.
