How to Block YouTube on Smart TV?

YouTube is home to all manner of content. From kid’s content to movies, inappropriate content, tutorials, name it. For a parent with kids around who love streaming, you may want to limit their access to the site, especially when you’re not around, lest they stumble on unpleasant or misleading content. But, how do you block YouTube on your Smart TV?

Smart TV has the parental control function integrated into its operating system, where you can follow a simple procedure to adjust the settings and block YouTube. It allows you to limit the content that minors can access by activating it at different levels or block the launch of the app entirely.

You may have heard of copy-cat suicide cases, where a child follows what they see on the screen and ends up dead. It’s happening all over the world as children can access such misleading content on the internet.

Surprisingly, many parents are not aware they can limit their children’s access to streaming sites like YouTube and control what their children watch, and they do, they don’t know how to do it. This article explains how you can block YouTube on different Smart TV models.

How to Block YouTube on Smart TV

Most Smart TVs have parental control functionality, which is crucial for limiting content access, especially for kids. You can control the content they watch as parental control allows you to activate it for different levels.

Other types of Smart TVs employ a straightforward approach where you can access the apps and block the ones you want right away without engaging parent controls.

The procedure is almost similar on all Smart TV models, but the exact steps may differ from model to model, depending on how the manufacturer made it.

Therefore, I’ll take you through a step-by-step process below for several Smart TV models and hope that it will give you enough guidance on you to navigate on your Smart TV.

We’ll focus on blocking YouTube so that it doesn’t launch and remain inaccessible for the period it will be blocked.

However, the manufacturer provides a user manual that can help you identify some of the features that may not appear at the place I mention.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Samsung Smart TV?

Your Samsung TV, let’s set a TV pin on the app you want to block so that anyone who wants to access it will be required to enter the pin. Here’s how to go about it.

1. On Your Home Screen, click on the ‘Apps’ tab.
2. On the menu that shows, click on the Settings icon. (The icon representing settings looks like a gear, so you can easily identify it.)
3. On the Settings page, click on ‘Lock’ for YouTube plus any app you’d want to block.
4. Enter your preferred TV Pin and click on ‘Done.’

After the four steps, you’ll have successfully blocked YouTube on your Samsung TV, and no one can launch it without the TV Pin.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Sony Smart TV?

With the Sony (Android) Smart TV, the procedure of blocking apps is not as straightforward as it is in other models. You’ll be required first to set up a new separate user profile which you can modify its settings to allow access to selected apps and block the others.

So, to set up the new profile and block YouTube, you’ll follow these steps:

1. Go to your Smart TV’s Menu, and click on ‘Settings.’
2. Scroll down the settings page and find the ‘Personal’ tab. Click it, and you’ll get a drop-down menu.
3. From there, find ‘Security & Restrictions’ and click on it. Next, Create a Restricted Profile.
4. Set a Pin for the new profile and select all the applications you’d like to access through this new profile. Leave out YouTube and any other you’d want to exempt.
5. With that done, press ‘Back’ on your remote, and that’s it.

You can easily shift from one user profile to another depending on who’s watching the television. For example, if you’re going out and leaving the kids alone on the TV, you can switch to the restricted user profile and let them watch only the content that is friendly to them.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My LG Smart TV?

Disabling apps on your LG Smart is pretty easy. Here are the steps.

1. Use your remote control to access the Smart TV’s menu. Press the ‘Smart’ button to display it.
2. On the menu page, click on ‘Settings,’ and a new menu will show up. On the new menu, find ‘Lock’ and click on it.
3. Select ‘Application Lock,’ and a long list of all the applications available on your Smart TV will be displayed.
4. Select ‘YouTube’ from the list. You can include other apps you’d want to block access to. If you’re satisfied with your selections, click ‘OK’ to save the changes and block the selected apps.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Hisense Smart TV?

While with other Smart TV models, you may not need to turn on Parental controls unless you want to restrict the content partly, Hisense TV will need you to first the parental controls then lock the apps you want. Here are the steps to follow.

1. Use your remote to access the menu. Press the [Quick Setup Menu] and use the right arrow to navigate and access the full menu.
2. On the full menu page, select ‘System’ and then click on Parental Controls.
3. Press the OK button on your remote, and you’ll be prompted to enter a PIN on the ‘Enter PIN Window’ that displays. The factory sets a default password like 0000, so you’ll enter this as your pin and press the OK button. The setup for the parental control is complete, and you’ll notice a color change from grey and become highlighted. This means that you can adjust the settings as you please.
4. Select ‘Locks’ and press [OK] to turn on all the Locks.

Some of the features that allow you to lock or add restrictions are:

• Channel Block – It allows you to block channels that you deem unfit for your children.
• Block Time – It allows you to choose what time they should watch TV and what time they shouldn’t.
• Input Block – You can block out the devices you don’t want to be connected to your Smart TV.
• App Restriction – This feature lets you block specific apps like YouTube so that no one accesses them without permission.
• Program Block – You can block certain TV programs that could be airing unpleasant content, especially for children.
• Change Pin – Update your PIN anytime.

With the Locks turned on, you can go to ‘App Restriction’ and select ‘YouTube’ and block it. The steps described in the procedure above for setting up Parental controls are for a Hisense H5507 model.

Most Hisense models will most likely follow a similar procedure, but if it’s not the case for your model, it’s best to check the user manual and follow their guidelines.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Vizio Smart TV?

Vizio follows a similar route as Hisense as it requires you to access the parental controls to adjust the settings and block apps. The process is not too complicated and may vary depending on the Vizio model you’re using.

So it’s important to check your user manual first. Here are the steps to follow.

1. Use your Vizio remote to access the menu. Press the ‘Menu’ button.
2. Use the right arrow to scroll until you find the ‘Parental Control’ menu. You can now adjust the settings and block the apps you’d like. In our case, use the arrow buttons to find YouTube in the icon that allows blocking apps and select it.
3. After making your selections, select ‘Access Code’ to update the access password. Enter your preferred password, and re-enter it to confirm. Press OK and exit as you’ll have successfully blocked YouTube on your Smart TV.

Some models may require you to enter the password to access the restricted apps, while others may require you to change the settings and allow access.

You may need to confirm the requirements of your Smart TV before making changes to the settings. The best way to do that is to read through the user manual and follow the procedure the manufacturer provides.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My TCL Smart TV?

The TCL Smart TV is powered by Roku, which is known for its high quality and affordable features. It’s no wonder people are choosing to use Roku-powered devices over others.

However, on the Smart TV, parental controls operate differently, and it requires quite a bit of familiarization to get it all set up.

Since Roku doesn’t own YouTube, the process of blocking it is a little complicated and requires to be a little creative to work through it and implement the restrictions.

It’s important to note that with Roku, you cannot block apps per se, as the only options you have are either removing the app entirely from the Roku device or managing the content using the app’s parental control settings.

When you remove an app, you must add a PIN so that no one re-installs the app without your permission.

Here are the steps to take to remove YouTube.

Step 1 – The first step is to set up a PIN that you can use to access your device. Follow the steps below.

1. Go to the Home Page of your Roku device using the remote and select ‘Settings.’
2. On the settings page, scroll down and click on ‘Parental Controls.’ A keypad will show up, prompting you to enter a four-digit PIN code.
3. Enter the code twice and click on OK.
4. Your PIN is set, and you can use it to access parental control settings at any time.

Step 2 – Remove YouTube from your Smart TV.

Roku offers a better option to blocking as you can remove the app you don’t want from your Smart TV, and the only way to access it is to add it to the list of channels again.

It also ensures that the process of adding the app back to the list will require some kind of authentication, so no one can add the app back without your permission. Here’s how to do it.

1. On the main screen, select ‘My Channels’ using your Roku remote.
2. Scroll to find YouTube and click on the options button (usually represented by a star) on your remote.
3. Choose ‘Remove Channel’ and click on the OK button. A pop-up window will show up, prompting you to confirm that you want to remove YouTube. Press OK to confirm, and YouTube will be removed from your channel list.
4. If you don’t want to remove it completely, you have an option to hide it from the Home screen so that it remains inaccessible. To do this, you’ll need to go to the Settings Page, click on Home Screen, and select ‘Hide (movie, news, or TV Store).’ Choose the app you want to hide, and it’ll no longer be available on the home screen.

These steps are easily reversible as you only need to follow similar steps, but the difference is that you’ll be unblocking or un-hiding. Adding back removed apps like YouTube will require your PIN, so make sure no one has access to it.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Sharp Smart TV?

Sharp Smart TV has the easiest way to remove apps. You may not block YouTube, but you can remove it to ensure that it’s no longer available on your Smart TV. Here’s how to go about it.

1. Access your Smart TV’s Home screen using your remote.
2. Use the arrow buttons to navigate through the menu and find the list of Apps.
3. Click on it and scroll to find YouTube.
4. Select the app.
5. Click on ‘Remove’ or ‘Delete’ to remove the app.

That’s it. YouTube is no longer available on your device.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Element Brand Specific Smart TV?

Element Smart TVs can run on different platforms like Fire TV, Android TV, Roku TV, and as Element brand Specific. All these platforms have different ways in which the parental controls are configured and adjusted.

The first step is to set up the parental controls and then manage the apps accordingly. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

Step 1 – Parental Controls

To set up the parental controls, you’ll need to follow these simple steps.

1. Access the Smart TV’s menu using the remote control. On your remote, click on the ‘Menu’ button.
2. On the Menu page, scroll to TV settings and click on it, and a new menu will show up.
3. Click on ‘Lock’ and enter a four-digit pin. The manufacturer sets the default pin as 0000, so enter it to lock the menu. You can change this pin anytime and enter a unique one.

Step 2 – Manage Apps

Now that the parental controls are all set up, you can manage the app and block YouTube. Like this:

1. Go to the Menu page from your remote control.
2. Scroll to TV settings and this time select ‘App Settings.’
3. When you click on ‘App Settings,’ a list of all the apps on your Smart TV will show up. Under every app, you’ll notice a ‘DEACTIVATE APP’ option, so you can click on YouTube and deactivate it.
4. You may be prompted to enter your pin to complete the deactivation process and prevent the re-activation of the app without your consent.

How Do I Disable YouTube on My Element Android Smart TV?

The Element Android TV allows you to use a restricted profile to block out apps like YouTube that you’d want to block. You can also block the installation of such apps from the Google Play Store. Here’s how it works.

Step 1 – Use a restricted profile.

A restricted profile is one that allows only specific apps and blocks out the rest. When creating it, you get to choose what you’d like to see on the profile, and then the rest of the apps are locked out. Follow these steps to create a restricted profile on your Element Android Smart TV.

1. At the left bottom of your Smart TV’s home screen, click on the Settings Icon. It looks like a gear, so you can easily identify it.
2. Scroll to ‘Personal’ and under the heading, click on ‘Security & Restrictions.’
3. Click on ‘Restricted Profile’ and then select Settings.
4. At this point, you’ll be prompted to enter your pin. If you already have a pin, you can enter it. But if you had not created a pin yet, you can enter your preferred pin as your new pin. The manufacturer has set the default system pin as 1234, so you can use that as a pin too.
5. After entering your pin, a list of the apps on the device will show up. Scroll through the list, choosing those that you allow and those you do not allow. YouTube is not allowed in your case, so click on it and choose ‘Not Allowed.’
6. Go back and click on ‘Enter Restricted Profile’ to access the new profile.
7. Its home screen will only contain the apps that you allowed.

Step 2 – Restrict content access in the store.

With the restricted profile, the user may likely want to install more apps from the Google Play Store. Therefore, taking a step to limit what they can install is a good idea. Here’s what to do.

1. Click on the Google Play Store App from your Smart TV’s Home Screen.
2. At the bottom of the menu list, click on ‘Settings,’ then choose ‘Content Filtering.’
3. You’ll be prompted to choose the level of maturity for the apps that show up in the Play Store. Choose ‘high maturity’ level.
4. Enter the default pin (which is 1234) or your preferred pin and move on to ‘Purchase Authorization.’
5. At this point, you will be required to indicate how often authentication should be done when one is purchasing an app on the Play Store. Choose ‘For All Purchases through Google Play on this Device.’ Some apps may require more permission within their settings to filter and restrict inappropriate content.

Conclusion

The mind of a man grows according to the content you feed it. Therefore, it’s important to regulate what children, teens, and young adults are exposed to daily as they watch television and stream programs online.

Blocking YouTube is a great way to stop them from stumbling into inappropriate content.