How to Delete a YouTube Channel

The Difference Between Hiding and Deleting

There are many reasons why you might want to remove a YouTube channel from the internet. Perhaps an old project from ten years ago is embarrassing you, maybe you are rebranding a business, or perhaps you simply want to erase your digital footprint.

When you decide to remove a channel, YouTube gives you two very distinct options: Hiding the channel or Permanently Deleting it.

If you choose to Hide your channel, all of your videos, playlists, and subscribers will become invisible to the public. No one will be able to search for your content, but the data remains safely stored on Google’s servers. If you change your mind a year from now, you can reactivate the channel and restore everything.

If you choose to Permanently Delete your channel, the destruction is absolute. Every single video, comment, message, playlist, and subscriber history is wiped from the servers forever. Google cannot recover a deleted channel under any circumstances. You must be absolutely certain before proceeding.

How to Permanently Delete Your YouTube Channel

Because this action is irreversible, YouTube buries the deletion option deep inside the advanced settings menu to prevent accidental clicks.

1. Open a web browser on your computer and navigate to YouTube.com. (You cannot do this from the YouTube mobile app; you must use a desktop browser).
2. Click your Profile Picture in the extreme top right corner of the screen.
3. From the dropdown menu, click on YouTube Studio.
4. Once inside the Studio dashboard, look at the left-hand sidebar menu. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Settings (the gear icon).
5. A pop-up window will appear. In the left menu of this pop-up, click on Channel.
6. Click the Advanced settings tab in the middle of the window.
7. Scroll to the absolute bottom of the Advanced settings page. Look for the blue link that says Remove YouTube content and click it.
8. Google will now force you to verify your identity. Enter your Google Account password and click Next.

You are now on the final removal page. You will see two options: “I want to hide my channel” and “I want to permanently delete my content.”

The Final Deletion Step

1. Click on I want to permanently delete my content to expand the section.
2. You must now read the warning messages and check the boxes to confirm you understand that all of your videos, comments, and playlists will be permanently wiped out.
3. Click the blue Delete my content button.
4. As a final security measure, a pop-up box will appear asking you to manually type your email address (or channel name) to confirm the deletion. Type it exactly as shown.
5. Click Delete my content one last time.

Depending on how many videos you had uploaded, the deletion process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. During this time, your channel will slowly disappear from the internet.

Important: Does Deleting My Channel Delete My Google Account?

This is the most common fear users have when attempting this process. The answer is No.

Deleting your YouTube channel only deletes your public YouTube presence. It does not delete your main Google Account. You will still have complete access to your Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, and Google Docs.

Even after deleting your channel, you can still log into YouTube using your Google Account to watch other people’s videos, leave comments on other channels, and subscribe to creators. You just will not have a public channel of your own anymore.