Key Takeaways:
- Delete all YouTube downloads at once in the app’s settings.
- Downloaded videos on YouTube are encrypted, so you cannot delete them from your phone’s camera roll.
- Remove a single download by tapping the three dots next to it in Downloads.
- If videos reappear after deletion, turn off “Smart Downloads.”
- Clear the offline cache regularly to prevent crashes and free memory.
How to Delete All YouTube Downloads at Once (Mobile App)
To quickly free up gigabytes of space, use this universal method. These steps work for the official YouTube app on both mobile operating systems. Here is exactly how to delete all YouTube downloads at once:
- Open the YouTube App: Launch the app on your mobile device and ensure you are logged into the correct Google account.
- Go to Settings: Tap your profile picture (or initial) in the bottom-right corner to open your profile page, then tap the gear icon in the top-right corner.
- Tap “Background & Downloads”: Scroll down the settings list and tap on “Background & downloads” (on some devices, this may just say “Downloads”).
- Select “Delete all downloads”: Tap the trash can icon labeled “Delete all downloads.”
- Confirm Deletion: A pop-up warning will appear. Tap “Delete” to permanently remove all offline videos and playlists from your device.
How To Delete All Downloads On YouTube? (Desktop)
Let’s first start with the desktop. When you have a lot of videos downloaded on your desktop, you must know to delete them too. Here is how to delete all downloads on YouTube on your computer.
- Open YouTube and select Downloads in the left sidebar.
![youtube downloads]()
- Click on ‘Download settings’ and then click on ‘Delete all downloads.’
- Finally, select Delete.
![youtube downloads delete]()
All of your downloaded videos will be deleted when you do this. Now you no longer need to delete one video at a time if your end goal is to get rid of all the videos from your downloads altogether.
How to Delete Individual Downloaded Videos
Sometimes you just need to free up a little space without wiping your carefully curated travel playlist. In this case, you can target specific files.
How to delete a single video:
- Open the YouTube app and tap the You tab in the bottom right corner.
- Tap on the Downloads section.
- Scroll through your list and find the specific video you want to remove.
- Tap the three vertical dots located to the right of the video title.
- Select Delete from downloads from the drop-down menu.
The video will instantly disappear from your offline library, freeing up the exact amount of megabytes associated with that specific file.
How to Delete YouTube Downloads on Android
The process for Android users is nearly identical to the universal steps, but Android devices offer an additional layer of storage complexity: SD cards. If your Android phone has expandable storage, you may have set your YouTube app to save videos directly to your SD card rather than your internal memory.
When you navigate to Settings > Background & downloads, you will see a toggle for “Use SD card.” Clicking “Delete all downloads” on an Android device will delete all offline videos, regardless of whether they are stored on the internal hard drive or the external SD card.
How to Delete YouTube Downloads on iPhone (iOS)
Apple iOS devices do not support external SD cards, meaning all offline YouTube content is stored directly on your iPhone or iPad’s internal flash storage. If you want to verify exactly how much space YouTube is eating up on your iPhone before you decide to delete everything, you can check your system settings.
- Go to your iPhone’s Settings > General > iPhone Storage, and scroll down to the YouTube app.
- While you can see the data size here, you cannot delete the downloaded videos from the iOS Settings menu.
- You must still open the YouTube app and navigate to Settings > Background & downloads >
- Delete all downloads to clear the cache.
Final Thoughts
YouTube’s offline viewing feature is a lifesaver for long flights and spotty commutes. However, downloading hours of high-definition content quickly consumes your phone’s internal storage. When your device starts lagging or flashing “Storage Full” warnings, deleting offline videos one by one is a frustrating waste of time.
If you’re still running low on storage after deleting all your YouTube downloads, try clearing your YouTube app cache or checking other apps that might be hogging space. You can also restart your phone to ensure all data updates properly. If the problem persists, consider moving downloaded files, photos, or unused apps to another location on your device to free up even more space. These extra steps can help your device run smoothly and avoid further storage headaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How To Remove Saved Videos From YouTube?
Three types of Saves apply to YouTube videos. The first is downloading them for offline viewing, the second is watching later, and the third is saving them in playlists. Downloaded videos can be removed by clicking on delete from downloads. Watch later videos can be removed from your watch later playlist. Videos saved in playlists can be deleted from the playlist they were saved in.
Q2.Can You Delete All YouTube Downloads at Once?
Yes, you can absolutely delete all YouTube downloads at once. You do not need to manually select and remove individual videos from your offline library.
Q3. How Do I Clear My YouTube Bulk History?
In your channel history, you will find the option of ‘Clear all watch history‘ You can select that to remove all your YouTube history in bulk.
Q4. Why Am I Unable To Delete Downloaded Videos From YouTube?
The problem might be arising from the YouTube app itself. So first try clearing the YouTube app’s cache. If that doesn’t fix the problem, go ahead and clear the data for YouTube and restart your phone. Now when you launch the app again, you can delete downloaded videos from YouTube.
Q5. Are YouTube downloads stored permanently?
No. Even if you don’t delete them manually, YouTube requires your device to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. If it doesn’t, the downloaded videos will expire and become unplayable.
