- How to see your YouTube Music history
- How to delete songs from your history
- How to pause your YouTube Music history
- The shared setting most people don't know about
- How to clear a lot of history at once
- What history changes in YouTube Music
- History when you're signed out or on a TV
- When to pause and when to delete
- My advice
- Frequently asked questions
To see your YouTube Music history, tap your profile picture, then Settings, then Privacy and location, then Manage watch history. From there you can remove individual items, and the same Privacy and location screen has a Pause watch history switch. Your history settings are shared with YouTube, so pausing it in one pauses it in the other.
YouTube Music builds a lot from what you've played: your Home tab, your mixes and the stations it suggests. That's why people come looking for their history, either to find a song they heard last week or to stop one odd listening session from taking over their recommendations.
How to see your YouTube Music history
YouTube Music's help page puts it inside Settings rather than the Library:
- Open YouTube Music and tap your profile picture.
- Tap Settings.
- Select Privacy and location.
- Tap Manage watch history to see what you've played.
How to delete songs from your history
From Manage watch history, tap the remove option on any item you want gone. YouTube's general help page says that if you delete some or all of your watch history, YouTube won't base future recommendations on that content. That's the useful part: deleting a few tracks is the quickest way to stop them shaping what you're shown next.
How to pause your YouTube Music history
- Tap your profile picture, then Settings.
- Select Privacy and location.
- Turn on Pause watch history.
YouTube Music says that while history is paused, what you watch won't show in your history or be used to improve your recommendations, and some personalised stations may not show on the Home tab. Turn the same switch off to start recording again.
The shared setting most people don't know about
YouTube Music's help page says watch history settings are shared between YouTube and YouTube Music. If you pause your history while signed in to YouTube, it's paused on YouTube Music too when you're signed in with the same account.
That explains a common puzzle. If your YouTube Music history has stopped filling up and you never touched the setting in the music app, check YouTube itself. I've covered the other causes in why YouTube watch history keeps turning off.
How to clear a lot of history at once
The YouTube Music app removes items one at a time. For bigger clean-ups, YouTube's help page points to My Activity in your Google Account:
| What you want | Where YouTube's help sends you |
|---|---|
| See everything you've watched | My Activity, then YouTube History, then Manage history |
| Delete more than one item | My Activity, then click DELETE and choose a time frame |
| Delete history automatically | My Activity, YouTube History, Manage history, then Auto-delete and pick a time range |
| Turn history off | My Activity, then the Controls tab, then Turn off |
One warning from YouTube's own help page: using DELETE to remove watch history also deletes your search history from the time frame you pick. If you rely on past searches, choose a narrow range.
What history changes in YouTube Music
- Home and mixes: they're built partly from what you've played, so deleting or pausing history changes what appears there.
- Personalised stations: YouTube Music says some may disappear from Home while history is paused.
- Your history on YouTube: because the setting is shared, what you do here affects your main YouTube recommendations too.
If you want to look back at history across your phone, computer and TV, I've explained how to view YouTube watch history on any device.
History when you're signed out or on a TV
YouTube's help page covers two situations people forget about. If you use YouTube while signed out, go to YouTube, select History, and choose Pause watch history or Clear all watch history. That only affects the signed-out history on that device, not your account.
On a TV or games console, open Settings from the left-hand menu. Select Pause watch history to stop recording, or Clear watch history to wipe it. If your family shares the living room TV under your account, this is often where the strange songs and videos in your recommendations come from, so it's worth checking there as well as on your phone.
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When to pause and when to delete
Pausing and deleting do different jobs. Pause history before something you don't want to shape your recommendations, like a child using your phone, a party playlist or a one-off genre you're trying out for someone else. Delete history after the fact, when a few tracks have already crept into your mixes. Pausing is harmless in the moment, but leaving it on for weeks means your Home tab stops learning what you like, so switch it back on when you're done.
My advice
Don't wipe everything because your mixes feel stale. Remove the handful of tracks that don't sound like you and let the rest keep working, because that history is what makes the recommendations useful. If someone else regularly uses your account, pause history while they're listening, then turn it back on, and remember the switch also affects YouTube on the same account.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my history on YouTube Music?
Tap your profile picture, then Settings, then Privacy and location, then Manage watch history.
Can I clear all my YouTube Music history at once?
The app removes items one by one. For bulk deletion, use My Activity in your Google Account, where you can delete by time frame or set auto-delete.
Why isn't YouTube Music saving my history?
Watch history may be paused. The setting is shared with YouTube, so pausing it on YouTube pauses it on YouTube Music when you're signed in with the same account.
Does deleting history change my recommendations?
Yes. YouTube says that if you delete watch history, future recommendations won't be based on that content.
Can I set YouTube Music history to delete itself?
Yes, through My Activity. Open YouTube History, click Manage history, then Auto-delete, choose a time range and confirm.
Does pausing history remove my personalised stations?
It can. YouTube Music says some personalised stations may not show on the Home tab while your watch history is paused.
How do I clear my YouTube watch history on a TV?
In the YouTube app on a TV or games console, open Settings from the left-hand menu, select Clear watch history, then select the Clear watch history button.
Does deleting watch history delete my searches too?
It can. YouTube says using DELETE in My Activity also deletes your search history from the time frame you select.
