How to Block YouTube Shorts on Android (Parent's Guide, 2026)
Family Link, Digital Wellbeing, and the curated-app option — a parent's honest ranking of every way to block YouTube Shorts on Android, with the trade-offs of each.
Android gives parents more parental-control surface area than iOS, mostly because Google Family Link is more deeply integrated into the operating system. That's the good news. The bad news is that "more controls" does not mean "the specific control you're searching for exists." There is still no in-app YouTube setting on Android that lets you turn off Shorts for a younger child.
I'm a parent of two and the founder of VidCove, a curated YouTube app for kids. I'll come back to that. First, the Android-native options.
What changed in January 2026 (and what didn't)
In January 2026, YouTube rolled out Shorts time controls for parents. Coverage from TechCrunch and CNN made it sound comprehensive. It is not. Android is the platform where it works best, and it still comes with load-bearing asterisks:
- The Shorts daily limit (down to zero minutes) only applies to supervised teen Google accounts, ages 13–17. Nothing for under-13s. Nothing for YouTube Kids.
- The limit only enforces inside the YouTube app. Open youtube.com in Chrome, Firefox, or any browser on the same Android phone and Shorts are unrestricted.
- Per YouTube's own docs, the teen can unilaterally turn supervision off. You get an email titled "Teen turned them off," a pep talk, and no override.
- YouTube hosts bypass tutorials — search "STOP Parental Control on Google Family Link" on YouTube itself and you'll find videos with hundreds of thousands of views walking kids through the exact workarounds. YouTube doesn't remove them.
Android gets stronger device-level enforcement than iOS (Family Link actually has OS privileges here), so if your teen has a supervised account on an Android phone, Option 1 is your best-case YouTube-native fix — with the asterisks above. If your kid is younger or watches on a shared device, the rest of the post is for you.
The four Android options, ranked
Option 1: Family Link with a supervised teen account (only if your kid is 13+)
This is the best YouTube-native option on Android, and only applies to kids 13 or older with their own Google account. "Best YouTube-native" is not "clean" — read the asterisks after the steps.
- Install Family Link on your phone if you don't have it already.
- Open Family Link → tap your child's account → confirm it's set up as a supervised teen account.
- Tap Controls → YouTube → Screen time or Shorts settings (the exact label depends on your Family Link version).
- Find Shorts daily limit and set it to 0 minutes.
Save. The Shorts limit applies inside the YouTube app on every device the teen signs into with this account. Two important corrections to how this is usually described:
- It does not enforce on the web. If your teen opens youtube.com in Chrome (or any browser) on the same Android phone, Shorts are unrestricted. This is a feature, not a bug, from YouTube's perspective — it keeps Shorts engagement available through the browser exit.
- The teen can override it, eventually. They can't change the setting while supervision is active. But they can turn supervision off entirely, any time, with zero parental override. Per YouTube's own docs: "Supervision can be removed at any point by a parent or a teen." When they revoke it, you get an email titled "Teen turned them off." No re-enrollment is forced.
On Android specifically, Family Link's device-level controls (daily screen time, app blocking, Chrome filtering) do work and can layer on top. That's the one real advantage Android has over iOS here — but none of it prevents the teen from flipping supervision off in the first place.
If your child is under 13, this option does not apply. The January 2026 update did not extend Shorts controls to under-13 accounts.
Option 2: Use a curated alternative app
This is what I do for my own kids, and it's the only option on this list that makes Shorts structurally impossible rather than blocked-by-a-setting-that-might-break-when-YouTube-ships-an-update.
A curated app like VidCove pulls videos from YouTube channels you've personally approved, on a per-child basis. Your kid gets a clean grid of approved videos. No algorithm, no Shorts, no recommended-next column nudging them toward content you didn't pick. You install it from the Play Store, your kid signs in with a PIN, you whitelist the channels you trust, and you're done.
The trade-off is that you're swapping the YouTube app for a different app, which means a different login flow for your kid and a one-time channel-whitelisting setup. The benefit is that you don't need to revisit the configuration every six months when YouTube changes how its parental controls work.
Option 3: Block YouTube entirely with Family Link
This is the Android-native nuclear option. Use it when you want zero YouTube on this device.
- Open Family Link on your phone.
- Tap your child's account.
- Go to Controls → App limits.
- Find YouTube and set the limit to 0 minutes, or block the app entirely.
The YouTube app icon will still appear, but tapping it will show a "Time's up" or "Blocked by parent" screen. The same approach works for YouTube Kids if you want to block that too.
The trade-off: this blocks all of YouTube. The educational content goes with the Shorts. For a lot of families this is too much. For some it's actually the right call.
If your child can use a browser, also block youtube.com in Family Link's web filter (Controls → Filters on Google Chrome → Manage sites → Block) so they can't just open YouTube in Chrome.
Option 4: "Show Fewer Shorts" on the home screen (does not work)
Older blog posts still describe this as "hide Shorts for 30 days" — that version is gone. YouTube quietly downgraded it. In the current Android app, tapping the three-dot menu on the Shorts shelf gives you "Show fewer Shorts," which is an algorithmic ranking signal, not a block:
- Shorts still appear on the home screen — marginally less often, if at all.
- Search results, channel pages, and the watch-next column are unaffected.
- It's account-level, tied to one signed-in profile, and YouTube controls how much weight the signal carries.
Skip it.
What about YouTube ReVanced and other modified YouTube apps?
You will see Reddit and forum threads recommending YouTube ReVanced or older versions of the YouTube APK that predate Shorts. The pitch is that these modified versions strip out Shorts entirely. Don't install them on your kid's device.
The reasons:
- Security. Sideloaded apps don't go through the Play Store's malware scanning. Some modded YouTube clones are legitimate; others are repackaged with adware or worse.
- Updates. Once installed, sideloaded apps don't auto-update with security patches. They go stale and become a vulnerability.
- Brittleness. YouTube ships server-side changes that break these apps regularly. You're signing yourself up to be tech support every few weeks.
- Account risk. Using a modified client can get the signed-in Google account banned, including any associated services.
If you want a Shorts-free YouTube-style experience without the security trade-offs of sideloading, that's exactly what curated apps are for.
What about Digital Wellbeing instead of Family Link?
Digital Wellbeing (built into stock Android) lets you set app timers, including for YouTube. The catch is that Digital Wellbeing settings are controlled by whoever holds the device, not by a remote parent. Your kid can change them. For a kid old enough to read settings menus, Digital Wellbeing is a self-discipline tool, not a parental control. Use Family Link instead.
Skip the Family Link workaround.
VidCove runs on Android, Android TV, and Fire Tablet/TV. You pick the channels — your kid watches the videos. No algorithm, no Shorts, no settings that break next month.
Try VidCove Free →My honest recommendation
For a teen 13+ on Android with their own supervised Google account who mainly uses the YouTube app, set the Family Link Shorts limit to zero. Worth turning on. Just stack a couple of realistic layers around it — a Family Link device-level app limit on Chrome (to close the browser exit), and ideally a conversation about why revoking supervision isn't on the table. The Shorts limit alone is not a standalone fix.
For a younger child, you're choosing between blocking the YouTube app entirely (with Family Link or app limits) and moving your kid to a curated alternative. The middle path — keeping the YouTube app available but removing only Shorts — does not exist on Android for under-13 accounts. YouTube did not ship that toggle in January 2026 and there's no indication they're going to.
That's why I made VidCove. It runs on Android phones, tablets, Android TV, and Fire Tablet/TV. You whitelist YouTube channels per child, your kid watches in our app, no algorithm, no Shorts. Free for 7 days, then $7.99/month.
The full cross-device version of this guide is here: How to Block YouTube Shorts for Kids in 2026 (Every Device).
Last updated April 2026. — Austin Nichols, founder of VidCove.