VKT Toolkit · October 18, 2026 · 6 min read

How to Block YouTube Shorts Without Blocking YouTube (2026)

You do not have a YouTube problem. You have a Shorts problem. The tutorial for a bug at work, the album you play while writing, the lecture you promised to finish — all live on YouTube, and none of them explain the hour that vanishes after lunch.

Shorts is a different product wearing the same domain: its own shelves, its own swipe player, its own entry in the sidebar. Blocking youtube.com removes the library along with the slot machine. Keep the library, remove the handle.

Why blocking all of YouTube backfires

Picture the usual sequence. It is 10:00, you need one video that explains an error message, and YouTube is blocked. You have three options: find the answer in text, use your phone, or open the extension and delete the rule. Most people pick the third one. Two minutes later the rule is gone, and the blocker has taught you that its limits are negotiable.

That is a design failure, not a willpower failure. A blocker between you and legitimate work becomes an obstacle; obstacles get removed, and the tool gets switched off.

The deeper issue is that a domain is the wrong unit of measurement. YouTube contains at least two very different things:

• The library: search, watch pages, channels, playlists, tutorials, music, meeting replays;
• The feed: Shorts shelves on the home page, in search results, and on the subscriptions page, plus the Shorts icon in the sidebar and every /shorts/ link people send you.

The library is why you keep YouTube installed; the feed is why you regret opening it. A domain block can only say yes or no to both, forcing a trade you do not want: focus during the day, or access to the one video you need.

What surgical blocking actually does

VKT JustFocus is an MV3 website blocker for Chrome and Edge. Alongside its normal blocklist, it has a feature called Surgical Blocking: per-site rules that hide only the addictive parts of a site while the rest keeps working. For YouTube Shorts, those rules are free for everyone.

Here is exactly what the YouTube Shorts switch changes:

• Home page: the Shorts shelf disappears from the top of the page;
• Search results: the Shorts shelf is removed; normal videos, channels, and playlists remain;
• Subscriptions: the Shorts shelf is hidden here too;
• Sidebar: the Shorts entry is hidden in both the expanded sidebar and the collapsed icon rail;
• Direct links: URLs containing /shorts/ are stopped by a DNR rule, so shared links do not open the swipe player.

Everything else stays: normal watch pages, search, channels, playlists, and embedded videos. You just cannot fall into the vertical feed.

The implementation matters if you care about privacy. JustFocus uses DNR rules for URLs and small content scripts that hide Shorts containers per site. It does not read page content, profile what you watch, or upload anything. No account, no analytics, no remote service deciding what counts as a Short.

It is not Restricted Mode, a keyword filter, or a DNS trick: those need an account, break search, or affect the whole domain. This is a browser-level rule set that hides named elements and blocks one URL pattern.

Three steps to turn it on (free)

Setup takes about a minute, and there is no license step for YouTube.

1. Install JustFocus from the Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons, then pin the extension so the icon stays visible;
2. Click the 🎯 icon in the toolbar and open the Surgical Blocking panel;
3. Turn on the YouTube Shorts switch. That is the whole configuration.

If YouTube is already open, reload the tab once so the content script applies. Then check four things: no Shorts shelf on the home page, in search results, or on the subscriptions page; and a /shorts/ link pasted into the address bar is stopped instead of playing.

Finally, open a normal video. If it plays and search works, the switch is doing its job. Your account, recommendations, and history are unchanged.

Pairing it with whole-site blocking

Surgical blocking is the baseline. The normal blocklist is the second layer, and the two solve different problems.

The blocklist blocks a domain and all of its subdomains, with three timing options: 30 minutes, 24 hours, or permanent. Use it when even the library is a risk — a deadline, an exam week, a morning of deep work. Use the Shorts switch the rest of the time, so YouTube remains available for the one tutorial you actually need.

A workable weekly setup looks like this:

• Deep work, 9:00 to 12:00: youtube.com blocked in 30-minute blocks, renewed only if the session continues;
• Lunch and breaks: global toggle off or timer expired, so YouTube is fully available;
• Evenings: no domain block, Shorts switch on. A full video works without the feed pulling you in;
• Weekend: global toggle off, back on Monday morning.

The rest of the free set supports this without friction. A 5-minute bypass covers a blocked site with the one answer you need; it re-blocks automatically. Export and import move a built list between machines. Chrome device sync keeps several computers consistent. An optional password protects the actions you regret: unlocking a site, deleting a site, and turning off the global toggle.

Most people do not need a stricter blocker; they need one that is annoying to disable at the moment of temptation. A password on those three actions does more than 40 blocked domains.

The other 11 sites

The same surgical approach covers 11 more sites: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, VK, Pinterest, Threads, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Xiaohongshu. Each has rules for hiding the addictive surfaces while keeping the rest usable. Those 11 need a license; YouTube Shorts does not.

If you only care about Shorts, use the free switch and stop here. For Reels, For You feeds, and recommended timelines, the license funds that per-site rule work.

FAQ

More guides in the VKT blog; questions to [email protected].