How to delete channel

How to Delete (or Hide) a YouTube Channel

If you’re thinking about deleting your YouTube channel it’s a fairly easy process. On any YouTube page, click on your profile icon in your top right-hand corner of your screen, and select ‘Settings’, then ‘Advanced Settings’. Now, this is where things start to get a little scary. At the bottom of this screen is a «delete channel» button. Don’t worry, if you click this button, nothing happens just yet, as you will first need to provide your password. Once you do that, then you will be on the big decision-making screens.

How to Permanently Delete Your YouTube Channel

Let’s start with permanently deleting your channel first. This will delete your videos, the users subscribed to your channel, all forms of engagements, your subscriptions to other channels, and your search and watch history. It also removes not only the videos you have created, but your preferences as a video viewer.

How to Hide Your YouTube Channel

If you feel that this is a step too far, then consider the «Hide Channel» option instead. This will make private your channel, likes, users subscribed to your channel, and your subscriptions to other channels. What it will also do is permanently delete comments you posted, but it will not delete your search and watch history. You will be asked to tick all of the checkboxes to confirm you understand what will happen to your channel. This option however, does allow you to re-enable your channel at any time. When your channel is hidden from public view, you may see the message, «Your YouTube channel has content but is disabled,» on your YouTube video manager page.

If you do want to quit YouTube, here’s my personal advice. Think really, really hard before you click that button. If you’re finding the whole process too frustrating, if you think YouTube is against you, or you’re simply burnt out, there is nothing wrong with taking a break. Many video creators do this. I have struggled with the pressures of YouTube in the past. I took an entire year off when I moved to a different country. But when I came back, I had a new fire lit within me. So, even if you think YouTube is not the right fit for you right now, things can and will change. And if you do decide to carry on with your YouTube venture, then don’t forget that vidIQ is here to help.

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How to Permanently Delete a YouTube Channel: Step-By-Step

Laura Leavitt, MA in Rhetoric and Composition

Contributing writer

Cake values integrity and transparency. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure.

YouTube has been a home for amateur digital video producers for more than a decade. Many people use their accounts to post original video content. Many millions more use it as a resource for music, entertainment, and learning. The ability to save videos in playlists allows people to curate content personally. You can choose from hundreds of thousands of hours of videos on YouTube.

Jump ahead to these sections:

When working to resolve the digital legacy of a deceased friend or family member, you may opt to delete their YouTube channel, too. This can be a smart option for ending commenting and responses to any old videos they’ve posted.

How to Permanently Delete Your YouTube Channel

Before you delete your YouTube channel, consider downloading any videos or playlist information from your account.

You may regret deleting this material later, so having a digital copy is smart. The biggest commitment of the deletion is that you won’t have access to your old videos or comments. So when you start this process, make sure you’re ready.

Tip: Ensure that your digital assets are taken care of according to your wishes by making a will. You can easily create one from home with an online will maker like Trust & Will.

How to delete your YouTube channel and permanently erase its content, or temporarily hide it

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YouTube has been around for almost two decades now. And if you’ve been around since the start, your channel might be host to some embarrassing old videos that you don’t want anyone to see.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t take much work to delete a YouTube channel. Deleting your YouTube channel means deleting your videos, comments, playlists, and more. And once you’ve deleted your account, all that data is gone forever — there’s no recovering it.

If you prefer a less permanent solution, you can also hide your channel, which will make everything on the account private to everyone but you. You can make a private channel public again whenever you want, but your comments and replies will be permanently deleted.

Here’s how to delete your YouTube channel or temporarily hide it.

How to delete or hide your YouTube channel

The steps to delete or hide your YouTube channel are essentially the same.

1. Open YouTube in a web browser and log into the account that you want to delete.

2. Scroll down on the left side of the homepage and click on Settings.

3. On the Account tab of the Settings menu, click the View advanced settings option in the Your channel section.

4. Click the Delete channel link. You might have to enter your password.

5. On the following page, you’ll be given two options: I want to hide my content and I want to permanently delete my content. Choose whichever option you want.

6. A drop-down will appear telling you what will be permanently deleted or hidden. To continue, you need to check off all the boxes and then click the blue Delete My Content or Hide My Content button.

7. A pop-up will appear asking to confirm that you want your content hidden or deleted. You might also be asked to enter your email address.

8. Click the Delete My Content or Hide My Content button again.

Once you click that final button, your channel will be deleted. Channels with a lot of content might take longer to delete, but it should only take a few moments.

Remember that a deleted account is gone forever. But if your channel is hidden, you can always make it public again by filling out a form.

How to Delete a YouTube Channel

A quick and painless way to get rid of your YouTube channel for good

What to Know

This article explains how to delete your YouTube Channel if you no longer want or need to upload videos of your own or create playlists.

Access Your YouTube Settings

Navigate to YouTube.com in a web or mobile browser and sign in to your account. Although you can delete your YouTube account and all of its data from the official YouTube mobile app, you can only delete channels from the web.

Select your user account icon in the top right corner of the screen and then select Settings from the drop-down menu.

If you have multiple YouTube channels on the same account, make sure you’re accessing the settings for the right one. To switch to a different channel, click Switch account from the drop-down menu, select the channel you want, and then repeat the above instructions to access its settings.

Access Your Advanced Settings

On the next page, select the Advanced settings option in the vertical menu on the left. You’ll be taken to a new page with all of your channel settings.

Delete Your Channel

Look for the Delete channel link at the bottom of the Advanced settings page and select it. Your Google account, Google products (such as Gmail, Drive, etc.) and other existing channels associated with it won’t be affected.

You’ll be asked to sign into your Google account again for verification.

Confirm That You Want to Delete Your Channel

On the following page, you’ll be given two options:

You can choose to simply hide all of your channel content like videos and playlists, however, your channel page, name, art and icon, likes, and subscriptions will remain unhidden. If you’d prefer to go with this option, select I want to hide my content, check the boxes to confirm you understand, and then select the blue Hide My Content button.

If you’re ready to go ahead and delete your entire channel and all of its data, then select I want to permanently delete my content. check the boxes to confirm you understand and then select the blue Delete My Content button.

You’ll be asked one last time to confirm the deletion by typing your channel name into the given field before clicking Delete My Content. Remember that once you’ve clicked this, it cannot be undone.

You can now return to YouTube.com, sign into your account using your Google account details and confirm that your channel is gone by selecting your account user icon in the top right corner followed by clicking Switch account. If you have multiple channels, the other channels should appear there while the one that you deleted should be gone.

You can see a list of your channels associated with your Google account and Brand accounts by navigating to your​ Settings and selecting See all my channels or create a new channel. Accounts of channels that you deleted will still appear here unless you choose to delete those accounts as well.

Without a channel, you can still subscribe to other channels, leave comments on other videos, add videos to your Watch Later section, and all the other things associated with using YouTube. This is because your YouTube account is associated with your Google account, so as long as you keep using YouTube through your Google account, it doesn’t matter whether you have a channel or not.

How to delete your YouTube Channel

Adam Binst

Some people have multiple channels with similar names and content and after a while, they want to get rid of the duplicate accounts. Often times, users want to delete all their accounts at once. Theoretically, when you think that the content you’re posting is no longer of any interest to people or they’re no longer relevant. Over the years, YouTube has made its name as a major video platform. In 2018, YouTube set some high thresholds for monetization. So, there was a growing trend where people started deleting their channels and jumped ships. The platform created by Google is not going anywhere but people have identified that building an audience on YouTube for them is no longer possible.

There are two types of YouTube channels: brand accounts and main accounts.

Brand Accounts: These are stand-alone channels that are accessed from your main Google account.

Main Accounts: these are directly linked to your Google account’s email address.

Since Google has removed Google plus, the process of deleting an account has changed. Both accounts can be deleted by following a few steps from your YouTube account settings or Google account page on a computer.

Deleting a YouTube Channel

Whatever your reason may be, when you’ve decided to delete your channel, the following simple steps will help you in the process.

1. Sign in to your account.

At the top right corner, sign in from the sign-in option. Then open YouTube advanced settings page.

2. Go to YouTube’s advanced settings:

Under Settings, you’ll have to select advanced settings.

3. Delete YouTube channel:

When the advanced settings are open, at the bottom of the window there is an option to delete your YouTube channel. Deleting your YouTube channel won’t delete your associated Google account. You will then have to re-verify your login information.

4. Permanently delete content:

After you’ve re-verified the account a final screen will appear. There are two drop-down options, one will be to delete your account and the other will be to hide your account.

Hiding your channel means deactivation. When you select this option, your channel, name, all the videos and, subscriptions will be made private until you re-activate your account.

The more final option is the “delete your account” option. This will completely delete your channel information along with the media shared on it. Click this option and a drop-down window will appear.

5. Confirm you want to delete your YouTube channel:

When you’re absolutely sure you want to delete your channel, check both boxes to confirm your decision. YouTube will tell you whatever you’re currently deleting and what will remain.

6. Delete permanently:

Once you’ve checked the boxes click on delete my account to permanently delete your account. This might take some time as all your content will be deleted, step by step. Some users report that it took up to 30 days for their channel to be completely deleted by YouTube.

Deleting a Brand Account:

This will delete all your content on the channel and the channel will be deleted afterward as well. This process also might take some time as mentioned for Main Account. Now you’ve deleted your account but you can still view the content available on YouTube as a free user.

Hide your channel or your channel’s content:

You can hide content from your YouTube channel and choose to re-enable it later. When you hide content, your channel name, videos, likes, subscriptions, and subscribers will be made private.

All your comments and replies will be permanently deleted. Your account data on other Google properties will not be removed.

If you want to make your content viewable to others, or if you want to upload, comment, or use playlists, you can re-enable the channel.