How to Hide YouTube Shorts, Comments, and Recommendations in Chrome

The short answer: hide only the surfaces you do not want

Open SBlock YouTube, find Focus Mode, and enable the controls that match your goal. For example, you can hide Shorts and homepage recommendations while leaving comments available, or hide comments and live chat while keeping the Up Next area visible.

These are presentation controls. Hiding a recommendation surface does not delete your YouTube history, unsubscribe you from channels, or prove that YouTube stopped using account activity for recommendations. YouTube explains that recommendations can appear across Home, Up Next, Shorts, and other surfaces and can be influenced by watch history, search history, subscriptions, likes, and feedback.

What SBlock YouTube Focus Mode can control

The current SBlock YouTube feature page documents individual Focus Mode controls for:

• Shorts — reduces supported short-form video surfaces.
• Games — hides supported YouTube game and Playables surfaces.
• Irrelevant Search — reduces supported search-result distractions.
• Live Chat — hides the chat panel on supported live pages.
• Comments — removes the supported comment section from view.
• Autoplay — helps prevent the page from automatically continuing to another video.
• Recommended Videos — hides supported suggestions around a video.
• Homepage Recommendations — reduces the recommendation feed on Home.
• End-Screen Suggestions — hides supported suggestions shown as a video ends.

Use the controls independently. A calmer setup does not need to mean an empty page, and the right combination depends on whether you are studying, working, listening, or browsing for entertainment.

How to set up Focus Mode in desktop Chrome

1. Install or update the correct extension. Use the official SBlock YouTube Chrome Web Store listing. The listing showed version 0.1.1 when this guide was checked.
2. Confirm the extension is enabled. Open Chrome's extension manager and make sure SBlock YouTube is switched on.
3. Check YouTube site access. SBlock YouTube needs permission to work on supported youtube.com pages. If access is disabled, the page controls cannot run.
4. Open SBlock YouTube. Select the extension from Chrome's Extensions menu and open Focus Mode.
5. Choose one or two controls first. Start with the surface that interrupts you most, such as Shorts or homepage recommendations.
6. Reload YouTube. Refresh the page or open a new YouTube tab after changing a control.
7. Add more controls only if needed. A gradual setup makes it easier to understand which change affected the page.

SBlock YouTube works on supported browser pages. It does not control the native YouTube applications on phones, smart televisions, game consoles, or streaming devices.

Choose controls by what you are trying to do

For deliberate search: hide homepage recommendations, Shorts, Games, and irrelevant search surfaces. You can still open YouTube and search for the exact video or channel you need.

For uninterrupted watching: hide recommended videos and end-screen suggestions, then disable autoplay. The goal is to let the video you chose end without immediately presenting another path.

For a quieter live stream: hide live chat while keeping the video visible. Turn chat back on whenever participation matters more than a minimal layout.

For distraction-free learning: hide comments, Shorts, homepage recommendations, and autoplay. Keep only the surfaces required for the lesson, lecture, or tutorial.

For a lighter social layer: hide comments and live chat while leaving recommendations available. This can reduce conversation noise without removing discovery.

Use YouTube's own controls when you want to tune recommendations

Hiding a surface and changing the recommendation system are different jobs. If you want YouTube to learn that a particular video or channel is not useful, use YouTube's own feedback controls. Its official recommendation-management guide explains options such as Not interested, Don't recommend channel, history controls, and Show fewer Shorts.

YouTube also documents a built-in Autoplay switch on desktop video pages. Use that setting when you want to change YouTube's native autoplay preference. Use Focus Mode when you want one consistent place to manage supported distraction surfaces alongside the rest of your SBlock YouTube setup.

The two approaches can complement each other: YouTube's controls influence account-level behavior and feedback, while Focus Mode changes what supported page elements you see.

Keep the setup reversible

A focused page should remain easy to undo. Change one control, reload the page, and confirm the result before enabling another. If you later need comments for troubleshooting, live chat for an event, or recommendations for discovery, turn that control off and reload YouTube.

• Do not clear your history just to hide a page section.
• Do not disable every YouTube feature when one surface is the problem.
• Keep a control off if it removes information you need for the current task.
• Use YouTube's own account settings when your goal is to change recommendation signals rather than page visibility.

This narrow, reversible approach also makes troubleshooting easier because you know which setting changed the page.

Pair Focus Mode with Daily Limit and Clickbait Remover

SBlock YouTube also includes watch controls that address different kinds of distraction. Daily Limit supports preset or custom watch limits and can warn you or block YouTube when the selected limit is reached. Clickbait Remover can replace supported thumbnails with real frames from the video and lets you choose the point used for the replacement frame.

These tools are optional. A practical study setup might combine a daily limit with hidden Shorts and homepage recommendations. A research setup might keep recommendations visible but replace supported clickbait thumbnails. Choose the smallest combination that helps you complete the task you opened YouTube for.

If a Focus Mode control does not take effect

• Confirm the product. Make sure you installed SBlock YouTube, not regular SBlock.
• Check the version. Update the extension from its official Chrome Web Store listing and restart Chrome if an update was pending.
• Check site access. Confirm SBlock YouTube is allowed to work on youtube.com.
• Reload the page. Older tabs may still contain the previous page state.
• Test one control. Turn the affected option off, reload, turn it on again, and reload once more.
• Rule out conflicts. Temporarily disable another extension that also changes YouTube's layout.
• Check the surface. YouTube changes its page structure, and a new or experimental layout may not match the current control immediately.

If the same supported surface remains visible, send the page URL, your Chrome and SBlock YouTube versions, the control you enabled, and a privacy-safe screenshot through the SBlock Issue Reporter. Review the SBlock Privacy Policy and remove account names, private history, or other personal details before sending a screenshot.

Frequently asked questions

Is SBlock YouTube the same as regular SBlock?

No. SBlock YouTube is built specifically for YouTube and YouTube Music. Regular SBlock is the separate product for ads, trackers, cookie prompts, and unwanted elements on other supported websites.

Does hiding recommendations change YouTube's algorithm?

No. Hiding a supported page surface changes its visibility; it does not erase your history or submit recommendation feedback. Use YouTube's own history and feedback controls when you want to influence account-level recommendations.

Does Focus Mode work in the native YouTube mobile app?

No. SBlock YouTube is a Chrome extension for supported desktop browser pages. It cannot control native mobile, television, console, or streaming-device apps.

Can I restore Shorts, comments, or recommendations later?

Yes. Turn off the relevant Focus Mode control and reload YouTube. The settings are designed to be changed as your viewing goal changes.

Build a calmer YouTube page one surface at a time

Start with the distraction that most often pulls you away from the video you chose. Hide that surface, reload, and use YouTube normally before changing anything else. The result should support your goal, not remove useful context by default.

Get SBlock YouTube from its official Chrome Web Store listing, explore all current controls on the SBlock YouTube feature page, and read the related guide to blocking YouTube search ads with SBlock YouTube.