YouTube moved settings to pause watch, search history outside the app

Abner Li | Jul 31 2023 - 12:20 pm PT

YouTube made a small change at the start of this year that replaced the settings to pause search and watch history.

Previously, “Pause search history” and “Pause watch history” were simple on/off toggles in the Settings > “History & privacy” menu.

As of the late last year or the start of 2023, the main Settings list in YouTube for Android and iOS has been split into “Manage all history” and “Privacy.” The latter is home to just Blocked contacts and YouTube Terms of Service.

Tapping Manage all history has you select your Google Account (if there are several signed-in). This will load the YouTube section of the broader Google My Activity page (a website): myactivity.google.com/product/youtube.

It technically loads inline with a mobile-friendly UI, but it’s not really a native experience. To actually pause YouTube search and/or watch history, you have to first visit the second “Controls” tab at the top and uncheck two Subsettings:

Include the YouTube videos you watch
Include your searches on YouTube

While somewhat more descriptive, I’d argue this new approach is much more hidden even if it’s part of offering a more comprehensive experience for managing YouTube History (and other Google privacy settings). It’s just not as easy as tapping an on/off switch, which can be useful if momentarily handing your device to somebody else but wanting them to still benefit from your YouTube Premium subscription, which is the case against the ad-laden Incognito Mode.

The old toggle-based approach is still live in YouTube Music and TV (as seen below).