How to reclaim the classic YouTube look — 6 easy steps

YouTube's interface is constantly changing, with an avalanche of Shorts, experimental layouts, and aggressive ads increasingly interfering with the video experience. There are simple ways to tame the platform and return it to a calmer, more personalised look.

Android Authority writes about it.

Kill the Shorts

The stream of short videos filling the home page can be easily stopped with the Remove YouTube Shorts extension in Chrome, which removes the Shorts category from the homepage and search results. In Firefox, the Control Panel for YouTube performs the same functions, and the same Chrome extension helps in the Kiwi mobile browser. For Android, there's a Block Scroll app, but it requires more permissions, so use it with caution.

Control the number of videos you see per row

YouTube stubbornly shows only three thumbnails per row, even on large screens. Firefox or Brave users can open the uBlock Origin settings and add the filter www.youtube.com##ytd-rich-item-renderer:style(--ytd-rich-grid-items-per-row: 5) to see five videos per row. In Chrome, the YouTube Row Fixer extension will help, while the Control Panel in Firefox also allows you to hide sponsored content or resize previews.

Get the old YouTube look back

The YouTube Redux extension restores a simplified version of the site with a compact player and a streamlined grid. In addition to the absence of unnecessary elements, the plugin allows you to customise the interface to your liking and get rid of automatic channel trailers and distracting sidebars.

Disable picture-in-picture

If the floating player on mobile YouTube is annoying, go to Profile — Settings — Playback in the app and toggle off PiP mode. On iPhone, deactivate system PiP in iOS settings. On desktop, you can remove the mini-player using the YT Mini Player Destroyer or Enhancer for YouTube extensions.

Remove podcasts, music, mixes, and more from the YouTube UI

The uBlock Origin allows you to "sweep" unnecessary content at a point. For example, the filter youtube.com##ytd-rich-item-renderer #view-more.ytd-rich-grid-media.style-scope:has-text(/^View full podcast/) will hide podcasts from the main page. Similar rules hide music playlists, mixes, or live streams, so you only build a feed with what you're really interested in.

Take a break

To avoid falling into endless viewing, go to Profile — Settings — General — Remind me when to take a break, and set an interval on mobile YouTube. There, you can also enable Bedtime Reminder by specifying the beginning and end time so that the app stops playback and prompts you to put your phone down.

As a reminder, YouTube has launched testing of the new feature that aims to increase viewer engagement during livestreams — the engagement rating that appears right in the stream chat. The platform uses gamification elements to encourage users to use Super Chat more actively, send stickers, and gifts.

We also wrote that although YouTube remains the most convenient service for watching videos, sometimes you want to save a video to watch without access to the Internet. There are affordable and free methods for doing this that do not require the installation of third-party software or the creation of an account.