Guide
YouTube Restricted Mode: How to Turn It On, Lock It, or Turn It Off
YouTube Restricted Mode is an optional filter that hides videos YouTube judges likely to be mature, and hides comments too. You can switch it on from the YouTube menu in a few seconds, but that only affects one browser or one app, and anyone can switch it off again. This guide covers how Restricted Mode works, how to turn it on and off, what "turned on by your network administrator" means, and how to enforce it across every browser on a family Windows PC.
What Restricted Mode hides, and what it doesn't
YouTube uses signals like a video's title, description, metadata, age restrictions and community flags to decide what to hide. In practice:
- It hides many videos with mature themes, strong language or violence, and age-restricted videos.
- It hides comments on the videos it does show.
- It doesn't hide everything. Automated filtering misses things, and it also hides some perfectly fine videos.
- It doesn't block ads, and it isn't a substitute for supervision.
There are two strengths. Strict hides the most. Moderate is a lighter filter, used when Restricted Mode is enforced from a network in its less restrictive form.
How to turn on YouTube Restricted Mode
On a computer (any browser):
- Open YouTube and click your profile picture (or the three-dot menu if you're signed out).
- Click Restricted Mode.
- Switch Activate Restricted Mode on.
The setting applies to that browser only. Repeat it in every browser on the PC.
In the YouTube app on a phone or tablet: open your profile, go to Settings ▸ General, and turn Restricted Mode on. It applies to that app on that device.
How to turn off Restricted Mode on YouTube
Usually it's the same toggle, switched off. If it won't turn off, the toggle is greyed out, or YouTube says it was turned on by your network administrator, the setting isn't coming from YouTube. It's being enforced underneath, by something that filters DNS:
- a school, library or workplace network;
- a router with family filtering or a filtering DNS service;
- an app on the PC, such as AdBolish with YouTube Restricted Mode set to Moderate or Strict;
- for a supervised Google account, the account's manager.
YouTube's own toggle can't override any of those. Change the setting where it's enforced, or ask whoever manages it. In AdBolish, open Settings ▸ Protection and set YouTube Restricted Mode to Off.
Why the YouTube toggle isn't enough on a shared PC
Like SafeSearch, the toggle is stored per browser and per account. Clear cookies, open a private window, sign out, or try a different browser, and Restricted Mode is off again. On a PC with Edge, Chrome and Firefox installed, that's three places to set and three places to forget.
Network enforcement exists for exactly this reason. YouTube publishes restricted addresses for its own domains. When a DNS filter answers YouTube's lookups with those addresses, every browser on the device gets Restricted Mode, whatever its own toggle says. The same mechanism enforces SafeSearch on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo.
How to enforce YouTube Restricted Mode for every browser on Windows
With AdBolish:
- Install AdBolish and click Restart as administrator, approving the Windows prompt, so it routes the PC's DNS and filters every app. Rights don't carry over, so this is needed again after each Windows sign-in.
- Open Settings ▸ Protection.
- Set YouTube Restricted Mode to Moderate or Strict. It hides videos YouTube marks as mature, on every browser and the YouTube app on the PC. Strict hides more.
- Turn on SafeSearch too, if you want search results filtered the same way.
Everything lives on the content and family filters page, including optional lists that block social media, gambling or adult sites in every app.
Before you rely on it
- A browser using its own secure DNS skips it. That browser never asks the PC's DNS, so the restriction doesn't apply there. Our explainer on what secure DNS is shows where to switch it off; AdBolish flags any browser bypassing it and can turn it off for Chrome and Edge.
- It's a filter, not parental-control software. Anyone with administrator rights on the PC, or access to AdBolish's settings, can change it.
- It covers this PC only. Phones and tablets need their own setting, or a network-level filter.
- It keeps working if bandwidth sharing is off. AdBolish is funded by sharing idle bandwidth; with sharing off, ad and tracker blocking pauses, but SafeSearch and YouTube Restricted Mode, if already on, keep working.
A note on YouTube ads
People often turn to Restricted Mode, or a DNS blocker, hoping to cut YouTube ads. Neither does that. Restricted Mode filters videos, and YouTube serves its video ads from the same servers as the videos, so DNS-level blocking can't separate them. AdBolish still blocks the trackers on YouTube pages; for the ads themselves, YouTube Premium is the reliable answer.
AdBolish enforces YouTube Restricted Mode and SafeSearch across every browser on a Windows PC, and blocks ads, trackers and malware in every app. It's free, with no account.
Do it for every app at once — Content & family filters
Block adult, gambling or social media sites in every browser and app on the PC, and enforce SafeSearch and YouTube Restricted Mode alongside them. Learn more about the Content & family filters.