How to: Delete YouTube Account

YouTube is the most popular video-sharing platform in the world which launched way back in 2005. One year later, in 2006, Google bought this platform and it grew to become the number one place for all sorts of videos. Some YouTube users even make money by creating original content on the platform and generating money through advertising revenue.

However, some users have their personal name and identity tied with their YouTube account and that is why they sometimes want to delete their YouTube account without deleting their entire Gmail account. Follow the instructions in this article in order to find out some of the methods used to delete a YouTube account.

Solution 1: Hide Your YouTube Account and Channel Temporarily

This solution is particularly useful if you are not sure if you are going to use the content from your YouTube channel in the future and it’s recommended that you hide your channel before you decide to delete it, especially if you owned a particularly successful channel on YouTube.

You can hide content from your YouTube channel and choose to re-enable it later. When you hide content, your channel name, videos, likes, subscriptions, and subscribers will be made private.

Note: All of your comments and replies you made on other peoples comments will be permanently deleted from YouTube. Other forms of Google account data on other Google properties will not be removed.

1. On a PC, make sure that you’re signed into YouTube with the account you used to create the particular channel. After you open YouTube, click on the Login icon in the top right corner and sign in using your Google account credentials.

2. Navigate to your advanced account settings. You can access the advanced account settings by following the set of steps located below.
3. In the top right, click your account > Settings (which should look like a gear icon).
4. Under the “Account settings” section, click on Overview. Under the name of your channel, select Advanced.

5. At the bottom, select the Delete channel. You may need to type in your login credentials once again.

5. Select I want to hide my channel or I want to hide my content and choose which options the boxes to confirm just what you want to hide from your channel.
6. Click on the Hide my channel option.

If you want to make your content available to other YouTube users, or if you want to upload, make comments on YouTube, or use playlists, you can unhide the channel.

1. On a PC, make sure that you’re signed into YouTube with the account you used to create the particular channel. After you open YouTube, click on the Login icon in the top right corner and sign in using your Google account credentials.

2. Go to create a channel and fill in the form which appears. This will restore your YouTube channel promptly.
3. In the form, don’t select the “To use a business or other name, click here.” This option is used tocreate a new channel instead of restoring your old one.

4. After you unhide your public channel, you will have the option to make your videos and playlists viewable in the Video Manager section.

Solution 2: Deleting Your YouTube Channel Permanently

The second set of steps which you should check out provides the instructions needed to delete your YouTube channel permanently without leaving the chance of restoring it in any means possible. This is particularly useful if you definitely want to leave YouTube for good and if you don’t want to use it any time in the future.

This option will permanently delete your content, including videos you uploaded, comments you posted, messages you sent, playlists, and history of your browsing. Note that you can’t delete a channel by using a mobile device at the moment.

1. On a PC, make sure that you’re signed into YouTube with the account you used to create the particular channel. After you open YouTube, click on the Login icon in the top right corner and sign in using your Google account credentials.

1. Navigate to your advanced account settings. You can access the advanced account settings by following the set of steps located below.
2. In the top right, click your account > Settings (which should look like a gear icon).
3. Under the “Account settings” section, click on Overview. Under the name of your channel, select Advanced.

5. At the bottom, select the Delete channel. You may need to type in your login credentials once again.

6. Select I want to permanently delete my content and click on the boxes to confirm that you want to delete your channel.
7. Click on the Delete my channel option. The option may also be named Delete content so make sure you select this if it appears.
8. The process may take some time, so you might still see the thumbnails of the videos you uploaded after a while.

Note: This process will only delete the YouTube channel but it won’t delete the Google+ profile or some of the pages connected to the channel, or the Google Account you used to create the channel.

Solution 3: Deleting Your Google Account

Deleting your Google account is not recommended as you have probably used It for a variety of different websites as the mail associated with your account. However, if you only used your Google account to set up a YouTube account, you can simply delete it and get done with it. We repeat, this method is extreme and it should not be taken lightly.

1. Sign in to your account. You can access your account via a variety of different sources, but the easiest way is to login to your Google account and select the icon of your account and then click My Account.

2. Under the “Account preferences” section, click on Delete your account or services.
3. Choose a service to delete or click on Delete Google Account and data. This will delete your Google account permanently.

4. Choose Delete after you have followed the instructions displayed.
5. If you can’t perform these steps, your account was probably created by an organization or a company and you will need to consult them before deleting your account.