But what if you don’t want YouTube using your past viewing and search histories to generate recommendations? You can clear those histories or even temporarily pause YouTube’s recording of them. You can be selective about which entries you delete, or you can eliminate them all with one click!
Why would you need to do this?
If you have a child about to melt down while waiting in line for something, you don’t want to end up with a series of SpongeBob videos crowding your feed. Before handing them the phone, pause the history and search recording, and you won’t see them.
Maybe you just want to prevent Google from finding out too much about you. Many people worry about Googleobtaining identifying information about them. If this disturbs you, you can clear your histories after each session to keep that information to a minimum.
As time goes by, your interests may have changed, and the recommendations you receive are not as relevant as you would like. Deleting old videos and searches can remove those suggestions from your feed.
How to delete or pause YouTube history
Deleting and pausing your histories is easy. Just follow these steps on either the mobile app or on your desktop.
On desktop
1. Click your avatar in the top-right corner of the YouTube home feed.2. Choose Settings.
3. At the bottom of the screen, click on the History button.
4. Along the right side of the screen there are some radio buttons. Click on these to display your watch history or search history.
5. To delete all the history click on “Clear all watch/search history.
6. A popup window will appear asking you to confirm that you are sure you want to wipe out your history completely. It also reminds you that it will reset your video recommendations.
8. To pause your history, first select either the search history or the watch history button, then click on the Pause button below the radio buttons.
9. To delete single search entries or just one video, find the entry in the center panel and click on the X next to each entry you want to remove. This can only be done from your browser.
On Mobile app
1. Tap your avatar in the top-right corner. Open Settings.
2. Select History & privacy.
3. To clear your history or search history, select the appropriate option, and then confirm your actions.
4. To pause your history or search history, click on the sliding button for one or both choices.
When you use these tips, the search entries and videos that you delete will no longer affect your recommendations. You are in control of what Google and YouTube use when they make suggestions for you.
Source: maketecheasier.com
