How to delete your YouTube account

Many people think that by deleting their YouTube channel they also delete the YouTube account – but this is actually not the case. Removing your channel will remove your content, but not the entire account. Here is how you permanently remove your YouTube account.

How to delete a YouTube account

If you have a YouTube account that is not connected to a Gmail address, you are lucky: you can delete your YouTube handle easily.

• Open YouTube in a browser on your computer. Log into YouTube and open the account settings.
• If you don’t have the direct URL to open the settings, click on your profile picture in the top-right corner. In the dropdown list, click “Settings”.
• At the bottom of the page, click “Delete Account”.
• Select an option to let YouTube know why you want to delete your account.
• Enter your password to confirm the account is really yours.
• Click “Delete My Account”.

How to delete a YouTube account connected to Gmail

Things get a little complicated (but not impossible) if your YouTube account is tied to a Gmail address. Follow these steps to permanently remove your YouTube handle:

• Open YouTube in a browser on your computer. Log into YouTube and open the account settings. 
• If you don’t have the direct link to the settings, click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen. From the dropdown list, select “Settings”.
• On the next page (“Account” should be selected in the left sidebar), click “View or change your Google account settings” under “Google account”.
• Find the “Privacy & Personalization” section and click “Manage your data & personalization”.
• Scroll down until you reach the section “Download, delete or make a plan for your data”. Click “Delete a service or your account”.
• In the “Delete a Google service” box, click “Delete a service”.
• Enter your password.
• Click “Download data” if you want to save your data before deleting the account.
• In the list of Google services, click the trash can symbol next to YouTube.
• If asked, enter your password again.
• On the next page, click on the little arrow next to “I want to permanently delete my content”. Check the box to confirm that you want to delete your content. And click “Delete my content”.

Before you delete your YouTube account

Take your time to decide if you want to delete your YouTube account. Once you do it, you will lose all your subscribers and also your entire content – including videos, comments, playlists and so on. 

If you just want to remove a channel, you have the possibility to delete or hide a YouTube channel, without deleting your entire account.