How to lock or block YouTube in your browser

People come to this from three directions: a child who watches too much, your own habit of opening YouTube when you meant to work, or a shared computer where you'd rather keep your watch history to yourself. Each one needs a slightly different setting.

Pick the one that fits

• For a child: lock YouTube, and keep the password to yourself. They ask, you type it.
• For your own focus: block YouTube, so that no password opens it.
• For privacy on a shared computer: lock it, so your history and recommendations stay yours.

What YouTube and Google already give you

• Restricted Mode hides videos flagged as mature. It filters, it doesn't limit time, and it can be switched off again from the same menu.
• YouTube Kids and supervised accounts give a child a filtered YouTube under a parent's Google account. Good for younger children, and only while they're signed in to that account.
• Reminders to take a break are easy to dismiss.

None of these stops YouTube from opening in the browser. That takes a lock or a block.

Lock YouTube behind a password

1. Add Web Lock to Chrome. If this is for a child, do it while they aren't watching you type.
2. Set a password they don't know, and a recovery email they can't read.
3. At Pick sites to lock, type youtube.com into the Another site box and add it.

That one entry also covers YouTube Music and the short youtu.be links people share, since they all lead to the same place.

When you unlock it for a child, leave Keep open until I close the browser unticked. The next new tab will ask again.

Block YouTube completely

1. Open Web Lock and choose Blocked sites.
2. Add youtube.com.
3. Under When a blocked site opens, keep Show the Blocked page, or pick Send me to another address instead and enter the page you'd rather land on, such as your to-do list.

To watch something, you have to open Web Lock, enter your password and take YouTube off the list. That small effort is the point: it turns a reflex into a decision.

Only at certain times

All-or-nothing doesn't suit everyone. Web Lock Pro adds Schedules: lock or block YouTube during school or work hours only, on the days you choose, or once a daily time limit is used up. The free version locks and blocks around the clock.

Where a browser extension stops

• Phones, tablets and TVs aren't affected. Use the device's own parental controls or screen-time settings for those.
• Another browser on the same computer opens YouTube as usual until Web Lock is added there too.
• A determined teenager may find the extensions page and remove it. Web Lock Pro's uninstall protection asks for your password first, and giving a child their own computer account without admin rights closes that route.
• Incognito windows need to be switched on for Web Lock from its Browser Lock page.

Questions people ask

Does Restricted Mode block YouTube?

No. Restricted Mode hides some videos and leaves the rest of YouTube open. It also doesn't limit how long anyone watches.

Can I block YouTube but keep YouTube Music?

Not with a single youtube.com entry, since YouTube Music's address ends in youtube.com too. Locking or blocking youtube.com covers both.

Will my child know the password is from me?

The lock screen shows the site's address and asks for the Web Lock password. It doesn't say who set it.

Does blocking YouTube in the browser block it on the TV or phone?

No. It applies to the browser on the computer where Web Lock is installed.