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How to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube and watch any video without content filters

A laptop showing the YouTube logo.
If you want to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube, you'll need to log into the account that turned it on. Alexey Boldin/Shutterstock

  • To disable Restricted Mode on the YouTube website, click your profile and toggle the option off.
  • You can also turn off Restricted Mode in the General settings of the YouTube mobile app.
  • If an administrator enabled Restricted Mode on the YouTube website, they will have to disable it.
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Restricted Mode allows users to filter out "potentially mature content" on YouTube using things like titles, descriptions, metadata, and age restrictions. It also blocks the comments on all videos, even the ones you're able to watch.

Turning off Restricted Mode should only take you about a minute, provided you're signed into the YouTube account that you used to set up Restricted Mode, and you're using your personal computer or phone.

That's because some administrators, like libraries and universities, may have enabled restricted mode. In that case, only that administrator — the one who turned it on — has the power to turn it off.

Here's what you'll need to do to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube using a desktop computer, or the mobile app.

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How to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube on desktop

This is an extremely quick and easy process to complete, once you know where to go:

1. Go to youtube.com and click on your profile icon, in the top-right corner of the screen.

2. Scroll to the bottom of that menu and click Restricted Mode: On.

The YouTube desktop app, with the “Restricted Mode: On” option highlighted.
You can turn off Restricted Mode from the side menu. Stefan Ionescu

3. Toggle the Activate Restricted Mode option off (it will go from blue to gray).

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How to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube in the mobile app

The process of turning off Restricted Mode on the mobile app is just as easy as it is for the desktop version of YouTube.

1. Open the YouTube app and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen.

2. Tap Settings.

The menu that shows up when you click the profile icon on the YouTube mobile app, with the “Settings” option highlighted in the side menu.
Open your YouTube settings. Stefan Ionescu

3. Tap General.

4. Toggle off Restricted Mode.

The “General” settings of the YouTube mobile app, with the toggle for “Restricted Mode” highlighted.
Toggle "Restricted Mode" to turn it off. Stefan Ionescu
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