Tired of YouTube? Maybe you hate the redesign? In this guide we’ll teach you how to delete your YouTube account in just a few quick steps.
Before we begin, it’s important to recognize that even though there are a couple of different methods for deleting your account, they are both permanent. They will delete certain aspects of your online history, which can never be recovered.
If you’re happy with that and you’re sure that just changing your YouTube account name won’t help, read on.
Note: Currently, it’s not possible to delete your account on mobile devices, so you’ll need access to a desktop or laptop to complete the following steps.
Just YouTube, or Google too?
With the way Google accounts are linked across different services, there are levels to how much of your account you actually want to delete. You can remove your YouTube channel, which deletes all of your videos, comments, messages and playlists, but the account itself will still remain accessible. Or you can go the whole hog and remove the account from Google’s records entirely.
Consider well which route you want to go down, and then pick one of the following instruction sets to follow.
Delete your channel
Step 1: Sign in to your YouTube account using the “Sign In” link in the top right-hand corner of the YouTube homepage.
Step 2: Navigate to advanced account settings by clicking your portrait in the top right-hand corner, then “Settings,” then “Advanced,” just under your account name.
Step 3: Click the “Delete Channel” button.
Step 4: Confirm your identity by inputting your password into the resulting login screen.
Step 5: You’ll then be given the choice to “Hide” or “Delete” your channel. Hiding it privatizes all of your videos and activity and deletes all of your comments and replies. Deleting it goes a step further and deletes your comments, replies, messages, search history, any videos you have uploaded, and the channel itself.
Make your choice, and then tick the corresponding boxes to make it clear you understand the process. Then click “Hide My Channel” or “Delete my Content” depending on your preference.
Step 6: One final confirmation box will then appear. Input your email address and then click “Delete My Content” to finalize.
This process can take some time, so logging back into your YouTube account may not be possible for a short while afterwards.
Delete Google account
One finally warning — unless it’s not clear, this will delete your Google account. All of it! That means your Gmail, Google Docs information, and everything else. Be very, very sure you want to do this.
Step 1: Go to myaccount.google.com and “Sign In” using the link in the top right-hand corner. Input your relevant login details.
Step 2: Click “Delete your account or services” under the “Account Preferences” heading.
Step 3: Click “Delete Google Account and data”. If you just wanted to clear out your Gmail account, we have a guide for that too.
Step 4: Input your password to confirm your identity in the resulting login screen.
Step 5: Read the Google disclaimer. It makes sure that you understand how permanent deleting your Google account is. If you have data from other services, such as Gmail, or Google Drive, you’ll be given the option to download it and back it up before going ahead.
Step 6: Tick the boxes that acknowledge you have read and understood all disclaimers, then click the “Delete Account” button.
That’s it! Your account is now deleted. If you feel like you’ve made a mistake, you do have a short window of (unspecified) time to restore it, but before long all of your Google account data will be gone forever.