This guide is going to show you how to clear your YouTube search history from the YouTube app on your iPhone. We will cover the basic steps at the top of this guide, then provide additional information and pictures for the steps below.
- Open the YouTube app.
- Touch your profile icon at the top-right of the screen.
- Select the Settings option.
- Scroll down and select the Clear search history option.
- Tap the Clear Search History button to confirm.
Your YouTube account (and your Google Account) keeps track of almost everything you do. Google logs your YouTube history both by storing information about your watch history as well as your search history. This makes it easier for you repeat searches in the future, or to find a video that you had previously watch but are having trouble navigating back to.
But this may eventually cause a problem if you have a search term or something in your watch history that is negatively impacting your experience. Our guide below is going to show you how to delete search history and remove previous searches using an option in the YouTube app on your iPhone.
How to Clear Search History from YouTube in the iPhone App
The steps in this guide were performed on an iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 13.1.2. I am using the most current version of the YouTube app that was available when this article was written. However, these same steps have worked for several versions of the YouTube app, so they should be the same even if you’re using an older version of the app.
Step 1: Open YouTube on your iPhone. If you don’t see the app on your Home screen you can swipe down from the top of the screen and search for it.
Step 2: Tap the profile icon at the top right corner of the screen.
Step 3: Tap Settings near the bottom of the menu.
Step 4: Scroll down and choose the Clear search history option.
Step 5: Tap Clear search history to delete the stored search history for your YouTube account.
You will note that there is a Clear watch history option on the menu in Step 4 above. YouTube logs these items separately, and allows you to clear them as such. If you would like to clear history entirely from your YouTube account, then you are probably going to want to complete both of those options.
There is also a Pause watch history and a Pause search history option in the History & privacy section, too. If you are going to be watching or searching for YouTube videos and you don’t want that activity to be stored to or impact your account, then you may want to use that setting.
Performing this action on the iPhone YouTube app is going to clear your search history across your YouTube account. This means that anywhere else where you use YouTube, such as a Chrome browser on your computer, an Apple iPad, an Android device, or anything else, will have its search history cleared as well. Note, however, that this only applies to the account to which you are currently logged in on your iPhone. Any other YouTube accounts will not be affected.
Now that you’ve learned how to clear YouTube search history from your iPhone, there may be some other settings that you want to change, too. Find out how to adjust the iPhone upload settings for YouTube if you’ve found that your videos are uploading at a low resolution.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.