UnTrap for YouTube
Ranked 4 of 9 website blockers by recommenders
Removes YouTube Shorts, recommendations and comments, which people say cut their viewing sharply. The most common caveat: it adds little over the stock site.
Removes YouTube Shorts, recommendations and comments, which people say cut their viewing sharply. The most common caveat: it adds little over the stock site.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Removes Shorts and feeds
“to remove all the shorts, feeds and algorithmic content and my YouTube consumption has gone down by like 90%”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “HackerTube: YouTube built from videos recommended by HN” “I've used it in Safari on iOS for a while with UnTrap for YouTube that lets you disable shorts”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)” “turns off all of the distracting nonsense I don't use (Shorts and recommendations)”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds” - Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “A new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube's feed may consist of AI slop”
- Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts”
Works on iOS Safari
“I've used it in Safari on iOS for a while with UnTrap for YouTube that lets you disable shorts”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)” “UnTrap for iOS. No suggestions, no shorts, and no comments.”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “A new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube's feed may consist of AI slop” “Try Unhook (desktop) and Untrap (iOS).”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Grandparents are glued to their phones, families are worried [video]” Cuts YouTube usage sharply
“to remove all the shorts, feeds and algorithmic content and my YouTube consumption has gone down by like 90%”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “HackerTube: YouTube built from videos recommended by HN” “Both work flawlessly, and reduced my YouTube usage to almost zero.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “YouTube to automatically label AI-generated videos” Configurable distraction removal
“turns off all of the distracting nonsense I don't use (Shorts and recommendations)”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds” “It lets you configure away the things that distract you.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Channel Surfer – Watch YouTube Like It's Cable TV”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Little difference from stock site
“works practically the same”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “A new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube's feed may consist of AI slop” “it didn't really make my experience better in a way that made me actually want to use it over the vanilla experience”
Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Would it be useful to have a slop button in addition to flag?”
Other website blockers people recommend
The four most recommended other website blockers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dull | 14 | 14 | 50% | 2 | — | — |
| One Sec | 11 | 1 | 92% | 3 | — | — |
| ScreenZen | 10 | 1 | 91% | 6 | — | Approved |
| UnTrap for YouTubeThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 7 | — | — |
| LeechBlock NG | 7 | 1 | 88% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“to remove all the shorts, feeds and algorithmic content and my YouTube consumption has gone down by like 90%”
“it didn't really make my experience better in a way that made me actually want to use it over the vanilla experience”
“turns off all of the distracting nonsense I don't use (Shorts and recommendations)”
“Both work flawlessly, and reduced my YouTube usage to almost zero.”
“it was a great improvement”
“Remove shorts and make UI amazing.”
“I've used it in Safari on iOS for a while with UnTrap for YouTube that lets you disable shorts”
“Try Unhook (desktop) and Untrap (iOS).”
“I have never seen a landing page with so little information about the featured product.”
“It lets you configure away the things that distract you.”
“UnTrap's Chrome version seems maintained (February 2026”
“My biggest surprise was how pleasant it was to spend t minutes in Facebook.”
“works practically the same”
“UnTrap for iOS. No suggestions, no shorts, and no comments.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.