YouTube is one of the most popular video platforms that is used globally by thousands of users. Anyone who has access to your device, laptop, tablet or mobile, and third-party apps that gather information for marketing purposes can get access to your YouTube viewing and search history. Because of privacy concerns, Google allows its users to delete this viewing history if they want.
There is a way how you can delete your viewing history whenever you feel like it. However, if you do not have enough time or forget to delete it from time to time, YouTube also gives you an option to auto-delete it after a certain period of time. Here are the steps you can take to turn on the auto-deletion of YouTube history.
How to auto-delete YouTube watch history
- Open the Youtube website on your PC and tap on the three horizontal lines in the top left corner
- Select “History” and then go to “Manage all history”
- A new webs page will then pop up, you just need to tap on “auto-delete history”
- Choose the time span for “Auto-delete activity older than” and press “Next”
You will get three-time span options: 3 months, 18 months and 36 months. Once this is done, YouTube will then show you the videos from this particular span that will be deleted immediately (based on the time slot chosen). If you don’t want those particular videos to be deleted, you can go back and change the time slot or decide to go ahead with the process. However, if you are okay with the videos listed, just select “Confirm”.
Now, these videos are permanently deleted from your account’s watch history.
In case you want to clear your watch or search YouTube history, here are the steps you can follow.
How to clear your YouTube watch and search history on an Android phone
- Open the YouTube app and tap on the “Library” option placed in the bottom right corner
- Go to the “History” category and then tap on the vertical three dots in the top right corner and then select “History Settings”
- You can now choose “Clear watch history”, or “clear search history” now.