About Control Panel for YouTube
Control Panel for YouTube is the answer to a specific frustration: YouTube keeps adding things nobody asked for. This extension, by Jonny Buchanan, adds the missing switches. It is a long list of toggles, mostly for removing things.
The list is the point. It can hide Shorts or redirect them to the normal player, hide AI summaries, Premium upsells, information panels, comments, related videos and watched videos. It can hide channels you never want to see, disable autoplay and the home feed, and includes options that undo recent design changes, such as the new player controls. The developer adds options when YouTube rolls out something new. Its Firefox listing is Recommended, and the latest Chrome release was 17 October 2026.
It is not open source: the code is public on GitHub, but the Firefox licence is All Rights Reserved. The Safari version is a paid app, while Chrome, Firefox and Edge are free. Some options note that they will stop working when YouTube removes the old interface. It does not change playback speed or audio, so pair it with Enhancer or Improve YouTube if you want those. Choose this if your problem is clutter.
Pros and cons
- Hides Shorts, AI summaries, Premium upsells and watched videos
- Restores older layouts as YouTube changes
- Updated within the last month
- Covers Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari
- Source code is public but under All Rights Reserved
- Safari version is a paid app
- Some restore options may stop working when YouTube drops the old UI
Permissions
It asks for storage and access to youtube.com, mobile YouTube and embedded players, so it can hide elements and adjust the page. It lists no access to other websites.
