How to block YouTube on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo makes this simple. Its support page says that at the Pre-Teen and Child restriction levels, the YouTube app is locked; at Teen and Not Restricted, it isn’t.

1. Open System Settings, then Parental Controls

   Then Parental Controls Settings.

2. Choose how to manage it

   Use Your Smart Device, with Nintendo’s free Parental Controls app, or Use this Console.

3. Pick a restriction level

   Pre-Teen or Child locks YouTube. For finer control, Nintendo points to Custom Settings, then Restricted Software.

Xbox

Xbox parental controls run through a child’s Microsoft account and the Family Safety app. Microsoft’s help describes two tools that matter here:

• An age limit for apps and games. In Family Safety, select your child, then Content filters, then Apps and games, and set the age under Allow apps and games rated. Anything above it needs your approval.
• A Never allowed list. When your child uses or asks for an app, you can add it to Never allowed, or to Always allowed. Put YouTube on Never allowed.

Xbox also has web filtering for its browser, with an Allow list only option, so a blocked YouTube app doesn’t simply move into Edge on the console.

PlayStation

On PS5, open Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management, select your child and edit their parental controls. The same settings are in the PlayStation Family app and in Account Management on the web. The control that matters is the age level for games and apps: if YouTube’s rating in your region is above the level you set, the app is blocked.

The same screens hold play-time limits by day of the week, which is sometimes the better answer when the problem is hours rather than the app itself.

Keep YouTube on the console, with limits

Game guides and walkthroughs are a big part of why kids want YouTube on a console. If you’d rather allow it, YouTube’s own controls work in the console apps:

• A supervised account. YouTube says these work on Xbox, Switch and PlayStation. You pick the content level and block channels from your own account. How blocking works.
• The parent code. The YouTube app for TVs and consoles has a 4-digit code that’s needed to watch signed out or open an older family member’s account. Set it under Settings, Parent code.
• Restricted Mode in the same settings, for older kids. It works per device. What it filters.

And on the computer

If the console is locked and YouTube moves to the family laptop, a full block there tends to get in the way of homework. FeedCut keeps YouTube usable while removing Shorts, the Home feed, and the channels and words you choose, with a PIN on the settings.

Questions

Updated November 5, 2026