YouTube keeps the videos you watched in your account history, so you can return to something you did not save or cannot remember by name. On iPhone, Android, and Samsung phones, you can open this list from the YouTube app’s You tab.
Your history shows recently watched videos first. You can swipe through the preview on the You page or open the complete list to search for an older video and check when you watched it.
Video Tutorial
Open your recently watched videos
- Open the YouTube app on your iPhone, Android phone, or Samsung phone.
- Select You in the bottom menu.
- Look at the top of the You page for History. This area shows videos you watched recently.
- Swipe through the videos if the one you need is visible in the preview.
- Select History to open your full YouTube watch history.
The History page is the place to use when you need more than the few recent videos shown on the You tab. Scroll through the list to review videos you watched earlier.
Search your YouTube watch history
If you remember part of a video’s title, searching is usually faster than scrolling. At the top of the History page, select the search field and enter words related to the video you want to find.
For example, search for a topic, product name, channel name, or a phrase you recall from the title. YouTube filters your watch history so you can locate the video without running a new YouTube search and trying to identify it from the results.
This is useful when you watched a video briefly, forgot to add it to a playlist, or want to continue watching something from earlier. Once you find the video in History, select it to open it again.
Check when you watched a video
Your full watch history also displays the date associated with watched videos. That helps when several videos have similar titles or when you only remember roughly when you saw something.
Use the date as a quick way to narrow down the list. For instance, if you watched a tutorial a few days ago, scroll to that part of the history rather than reviewing older entries. Combined with the search field, the dates make it easier to find a video you did not save.
Clear your YouTube watch history
You can remove your full watch history from the same screen. On the History page, select the three dots in the top-right corner. From there, choose the option to clear your entire watch history.
Only use this when you want to delete the whole history. Your watch history is what lets YouTube show the recently watched list, so clearing it removes the videos you would otherwise be able to review later.
Why a video may not appear in History
The steps above show the watch history available in the YouTube app. If you cannot locate a video, first use the History search field and try different words from the title or topic. Then check nearby dates in the list in case you watched it earlier or later than expected.
If the video still is not listed, you may have watched it while using a different YouTube account. The History page reflects the account currently open in the app. You may also have cleared your entire watch history after watching the video, which removes the list of previously watched videos.
Use History to rewatch videos without searching again
The quickest route is You > History. Start with the recent-video preview at the top of the You page. If the video is not there, open the full history, search for it, and use the displayed dates to confirm you found the right one.
This gives you a simple way to revisit a tutorial, song, review, or other video that you watched but forgot to save. Keep in mind that clearing the entire history removes that record, so leave it in place if you want YouTube to retain your recently watched videos.
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