This tiny YouTube extension fixes everything you hate

YouTube keeps changing its interface, and not always for the better. The Control Panel for YouTube is a browser extension that lets you turn off much of that noise.

You can bring back the old player controls, hide distractions across Home, Search and video pages, and even tame Shorts. It runs on all major browsers, including mobile options, and doesn’t hoover up your data. Here’s what it does, where it works, and how to get started.

What it is, and what’s new

The extension adds a long list of switches to customise YouTube, from the player bar to the feed. A recent highlight: you can disable the new progress bar and main controls to restore the older layout, or keep the new UI and fix its rough edges. 

• Revert the new player controls after a quick refresh
• Restore the Miniplayer button and corner-click to go full screen
• Hide “More videos” and extra buttons in full screen
• Keep a compact Play button and cleaner controls

If you dislike the new design, toggle “Disable new progress bar and controls,” refresh the page, and you’re back on familiar ground. Prefer the new look? There are tweaks to reduce clutter and restore useful buttons without ditching the update entirely. Do note this rollback relies on legacy code at YouTube’s end, so it will stop working when that code is removed.

Tidy the feed, fix video pages, and tame Shorts

Beyond the player, Control Panel for YouTube helps you build a cleaner YouTube that focuses on videos, not fluff. 

• Hide suggested sections in Home and Search
• Filter out Lives, Mixes, Playlists, Movies & TV, “Members only” and more
• Disable Autoplay and Ambient mode; hide Related videos and comments
• Force theatre mode or full-height theatre
• Hide end cards, endscreen content, channel watermark and chat
• Hide or redirect Shorts to the normal player; stop looping; show a progress bar

These controls let you remove entire categories you never watch and strip video pages down to the essentials. Shorts can be hidden entirely or made less annoying by turning off looping and moving them to the standard player. If you like a grid-heavy layout, you can also set the number of items per row on desktop, which makes big screens far more usable.

Platforms, mobile support and setup

You can install the extension on all major browsers across desktop and mobile. Firefox for Android is supported, Safari has a packaged App Store version, and Edge is covered too. 

• Chrome/Chromium browsers (Brave, Opera)
• Firefox on desktop and Firefox for Android
• Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac
• Microsoft Edge (with mobile install notes for Edge Canary)

On iOS and iPadOS, remember that Safari extensions need to be enabled after installation. Turn the extension on, then grant site access for YouTube domains to make it run. Edge on Android may require using the Canary build and following the posted steps to load the add-on. 

If you’re a Shorts-first creator or viewer, you might also want to read our coverage of Shorts updates in the region to see where YouTube is headed next. YouTube bringing Veo 3 to Shorts in MENA.

Privacy, permissions and limits

The Chrome Web Store listing says the developer does not collect or sell your data, and Apple’s App Store page lists “Data Not Collected” for the Safari version. Required permissions are scoped to YouTube domains. 

• No data collection disclosed by the developer on Chrome
• “Data Not Collected” on the Safari App Store entry
• YouTube-only host permissions on Firefox

Two caveats. First, ad-related options, like skipping ads or hiding sponsored promos, can trigger YouTube’s anti-ad-block checks. If you rely on those, expect occasional breakage. Second, the “old controls” toggle will stop working once YouTube removes the legacy UI code. 

Quick start: useful defaults

Here are sensible starting toggles most people appreciate. Adjust to taste. 

• Player/UI: disable Ambient mode; keep a compact Play button
• Video pages: hide Related videos and end cards; force theatre mode
• Feed: hide suggested sections; disable Home feed if you only watch Subscriptions
• Shorts: redirect to the normal player; stop looping; show progress bar
• Mobile: allow background playback, hide “Open App” banners

These choices reduce the algorithmic pull, keep the player clean, and make Shorts less distracting. On mobile data, consider whether background playback is worth the extra megabytes. If you’re trying to keep a cap on usage, our guide to data-hungry apps is a quick refresher. Apps that spike mobile data, including YouTube.

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