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Spool Focus Web for YouTube

YouTube Without Shorts on iPhone

Hide YouTube Shorts tabs and shelves inside Spool; the native app is unchanged. Spool Focus Web hides the Shorts surface while keeping intentional web viewing available.

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Quick answer

Spool can hide YouTube Shorts tabs and shelves inside its browser. Open YouTube inside Focus Web and enable the Shorts filter; long-form videos, channels, and search remain part of the YouTube web experience.

What Spool can remove

  • YouTube Shorts

What remains available

Long-form videos, channels, subscriptions, and search remain available on YouTube’s web experience. A direct Shorts link can open as a regular video instead of the Shorts swipe feed.

Why an app limit misses the real problem

YouTube mixes useful long-form video with a never-ending Shorts feed. An app-level block removes both. Feature-level filtering removes the short-form loop while preserving the videos you deliberately came to watch.

Apple Screen Time can limit or block all of YouTube, but it cannot remove only the specific feeds and tabs listed above. Focus Web changes the experience inside Spool so the useful parts can stay without leaving the main scroll trap one tap away.

How to use YouTube without Shorts

  1. Open YouTube from Spool’s Focus Web tab instead of entering the native app on autopilot.
  2. Enable the Shorts filter to remove the short-form surface from the Focus Web experience.
  3. Use search or subscriptions to go directly to a video you chose.
  4. Pair filtering with Spool’s voice check-in when you also want to understand why you opened YouTube.

Questions about YouTube without Shorts

Can I block YouTube Shorts without blocking YouTube?
Yes. Spool Focus Web filters Shorts inside YouTube’s web experience while leaving intentional long-form viewing available.
Does Spool remove Shorts from the native YouTube app?
No. Spool does not alter the native YouTube app. Filtering applies only inside Spool’s Focus Web browser; direct Shorts links can still open as regular videos.
What is the official name of YouTube’s short-form feed?
YouTube calls the format “Shorts” and the infinite viewing surface the “Shorts Feed.”

Keep the platform. Remove the part that pulls you in.

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Focus Web filters supported website features inside Spool. It does not remove Reels, Shorts, or other features from the separate native Instagram, YouTube, or other social apps. Native-app blocking is a separate feature requiring Screen Time permission and configuration.