How to Block YouTube on TV: Android TV & Google TV

How to block YouTube on Android TV and Google TV using profiles, Family Link or TVCP

Last reviewed: November 2026
Reviewed by: TVCP Product Team

There are two very different things people mean when they say they want to “block YouTube” on a TV.

One is make YouTube unavailable. The other is leave YouTube available but filter what a child can watch. Android TV and Google TV can do both, but with different tools. Mixing them up is how people end up turning on Restricted Mode and wondering why YouTube still opens.

Quick answer

How to block YouTube on TV: take the YouTube app out of your child’s profile, then lock the way out of that profile. How you do it depends on the system the TV runs, not the brand on the front.

On Android TV, create a restricted profile, protect it with a PIN and leave YouTube out of the allowed-apps list.

On Google TV, use a kids profile, open Manage apps and hide YouTube. You can also block and unblock the TV version of YouTube from your phone with Family Link.

On a Samsung TV, check its own settings and manual for what its app lock covers: the steps in this guide are for Android TV and Google TV, and TVCP doesn’t work on Samsung.

Restricted Mode does not block YouTube. It filters some potentially mature content inside the app.

If you want to switch YouTube on or off from your phone without editing the TV profile each time, TVCP can block and unblock apps on Android TV and Google TV. App blocking covers the TV’s main profile. If your child uses a separate profile, such as a Google TV kids profile or an Android TV restricted profile, a blocked app may still open there. On Google TV, TVCP’s lock, timer and schedule cover every profile.

To remove the YouTube lock later, allow YouTube again where you blocked it: in the restricted profile on Android TV, under Manage apps on Google TV, or in Family Link or TVCP on your phone.

Which option blocks YouTube?

Method	Blocks the YouTube app?	Where you control it	Best for
Android TV restricted profile	Yes	On the TV	A permanent or mostly permanent block
Google TV kids profile	Yes	On the TV	Fixed app rules for a child’s profile
Family Link on Google TV	Yes, for the child’s profile	Phone	Remote app blocking on Google TV
YouTube Restricted Mode	No	Inside YouTube	Filtering some mature content
YouTube Kids / supervised experience	No	YouTube account/profile	A safer version of YouTube
TVCP	Yes, in the TV’s main profile	Phone	Rules that change during the day

First decide: do you want safer YouTube, or no YouTube?

If you are happy for your child to use YouTube but want tighter content controls, use a supervised YouTube experience, a YouTube Kids profile and the parental settings inside YouTube. Restricted Mode can add another filter, but Google itself describes it as a way to help screen out potentially mature content, not as a guaranteed child-safety mode.

If you want no YouTube at all, you need to hide or block the app at the TV/profile level.

The steps depend on whether the television runs Android TV or Google TV.

Philips or TCL TV? Check the system first

Parents often ask how to block YouTube on a particular brand, such as Philips or TCL. The answer depends on the system, not the brand, because the same maker sells TVs with different systems.

Philips

Many Philips TVs from recent years run Google TV or Android TV. On those, the steps in this guide work, and so does TVCP. Many newer Philips models run Titan OS instead, so check which system your model has. Titan OS has no Google profiles and no Play Store, so the steps in this guide don’t apply and TVCP can’t be installed. Philips’s manual for a Titan OS model says its app lock is only valid for 18+ rated apps from the Philips apps, so check what your model’s app lock covers before you rely on it for YouTube.

TCL

TCL sells TVs with different systems: some models run Google TV or Android TV, others, depending on the country, Roku or Fire TV. If your TCL runs Google TV or Android TV, use the steps below. TVCP doesn’t work on models with another system.

How to check which system your TV has

Search for TVCP in the Play Store. Open the Play Store on the TV and search for TV Control for Parents. If the app shows up, the TV runs Android TV or Google TV. If you don’t see the Play Store, check the manual or Settings: a Google TV set up in basic TV mode can’t install apps either.
Look at the box or the manual. It should say “Google TV” or “Android TV”.
Look in Settings. Open Settings and check System, Device Preferences or About for “Google TV” or “Android TV”.

TVCP works only on Android TV and Google TV. More in Which TVs work with TVCP.

How to block YouTube on Android TV

Android TV uses restricted profiles. A restricted profile shows only the apps you approve, and leaving it requires a PIN.

To block YouTube:

Open Settings on the Android TV.
Scroll to Personal and choose Security & Restrictions.
Select Create restricted profile.
Set a PIN your child does not know.
Go through the list of apps and leave YouTube disabled.
Press Back, then choose Enter restricted profile.

Inside that profile, YouTube will not be available because it was never allowed in the first place.

Google also disables access to the Play Store inside a restricted profile, so the child cannot simply open the store and reinstall an app from there. Third-party apps that do not use Google sign-in may also be unavailable, which is worth knowing before you build the profile around a long list of apps.

Save the restricted-profile PIN

This is not a PIN to improvise and forget. Google’s documented recovery if you cannot exit the restricted profile is a factory data reset, which erases the apps and settings on the device.

Put it somewhere you will find it again.

The path above comes from Google’s Android TV documentation. Sony, Philips, TCL, Hisense, Nvidia Shield and other devices may move labels around between software versions.

If you cannot find Security & Restrictions, check whether the television is running Google TV. Plenty of TVs are casually described as “Android TVs” even when the current interface is Google TV.

How to block YouTube on Google TV

Google TV does not use Android TV’s restricted-profile system. It uses a kids profile. Kids profiles aren’t available on every Google TV device or in every region.

If you do not already have one:

Select your profile picture on the Google TV home screen.
Choose Add account, then Add a kid.
Select an existing child in your Google family group or follow the setup prompts.

Then block YouTube for that profile:

Open All settings.
Go to Accounts & Profiles.
Select the child’s profile and verify the adult account.
Open Manage apps.
Uncheck YouTube.

Google TV treats checked apps as allowed and unchecked apps as hidden from the child’s profile.

Lock the exit from the kids profile

Blocking YouTube inside a kids profile only works if the child stays in that profile.

Google TV includes a Kids lock for the child profile and separate Profile lock controls for signed-in profiles. Use the available lock on your setup so switching out of the protected environment requires the adult PIN or account credential.

Without that, the YouTube setting is only as strong as the profile switcher.

Can I block YouTube on Google TV from my phone?

Yes, through Family Link, if YouTube is being managed as an app on your child’s Google TV profile.

Google’s current Family Link instructions let a parent block or unblock apps for a child from the phone. One detail is easy to miss: if an app has separate mobile and TV versions, Google says you may need to block both versions to make sure the child does not retain access on Google TV.

That makes Google TV noticeably more flexible than Android TV for a simple remote app block.

The Google TV daily viewing limit and downtime are still set on the television, not in Family Link. If the bigger issue is overall TV time, see Smart TV Parental Controls: How to Set a Time Limit.

How to set a time limit on YouTube on the TV

Many parents don’t want to ban YouTube outright. They want to limit it: half an hour after school, a bit longer at the weekend. The built-in tools handle this differently:

Google TV has a daily limit and a bedtime in the kids profile. You set the limit in 15-minute steps, up to 8 hours, and bedtime in 30-minute steps. The limit covers the whole kids profile on the TV, not YouTube alone, and you set it on the TV, not in Family Link.
Android TV has no built-in time limit. The restricted profile only decides which apps are available.
YouTube Kids has its own timer, but Google describes it for the YouTube Kids app, not as a TV setting. Don’t count on it as a limit for the whole TV.

With TVCP you set TV time from your phone, on Android TV and Google TV:

Timer. Start it for the minutes you agreed on. When time is up, the TV locks, whether YouTube or something else is on.
Schedule. Choose the days and hours the TV can be used, with separate hours for weekdays and the weekend. Outside them the TV stays locked.
App blocking. If YouTube should only be available at certain times, keep it blocked and unblock it from your phone when its time comes. App blocking covers the TV’s main profile, so a blocked app may still open in a separate profile, such as a Google TV kids profile or an Android TV restricted profile. On Google TV, the Timer and Schedule cover every profile.

Restricted Mode is not a YouTube lock

Restricted Mode is useful, but it answers a different question.

YouTube describes it as an optional setting that helps screen out potentially mature content. It uses signals such as video metadata, titles, Community Guidelines reviews and age restrictions. The filter is not the same thing as removing the app.

On Android TV, you can turn Restricted Mode on inside YouTube’s settings. The YouTube app still opens, search still works and videos that pass the filter can still play.

So:

Want less mature content? Restricted Mode may help.
Want YouTube unavailable? Block the app through the TV profile.

What about YouTube Kids?

YouTube Kids is also not a block. It is a child-focused YouTube experience with a smaller content pool and additional parental controls.

On current TV devices, Google directs families to the child’s YouTube Kids profile inside the main YouTube app. That creates a trade-off: if you hide the YouTube app completely, you may also remove the route your child uses to enter YouTube Kids on that television.

So do not block YouTube just because the normal homepage is too broad if what you want is YouTube Kids. Set up the child’s YouTube experience first and decide whether that solves the problem.

Can I block a single YouTube channel on the TV?

Not with the TV’s own controls. Android TV’s restricted profile, Google TV’s kids profile, Family Link and TVCP all work with the whole app: YouTube is either available or blocked. None of them can hide one channel.

Channels and videos are blocked inside YouTube, for a child’s account:

A channel: sign in with your linked parent account on the YouTube website or in the YouTube mobile app, open the channel and block it for your child. Google says this works for a YouTube Kids profile and for a supervised account.
A single video: block it in your child’s YouTube Kids profile. Google says videos you block in YouTube Kids are also blocked on your child’s supervised YouTube account.

On a TV, YouTube Kids is a kid’s profile inside the YouTube app. A kids profile alone leaves adult and signed-out viewing open, so also add a parent code to the YouTube app on the TV. Google says it helps keep children from watching outside YouTube Kids.

And if time matters more than a particular channel, block the whole app and unblock it when you’ve agreed.

Four ways a YouTube block can still leak

Blocking the app is simple. Making the rule hold is where the edge cases appear.

1. The child switches profiles

This is the obvious one and the most important. A restriction attached to a kids or restricted profile disappears if the child reaches an unrestricted adult profile. Lock profile switching.

2. YouTube opens in a browser

Blocking the YouTube app does not automatically block youtube.com in a web browser. If your TV has a browser and the goal is no YouTube at all, restrict the browser too.

3. An adult profile can reinstall or sideload apps

The Play Store is unavailable inside Android TV’s restricted profile, which helps. An unrestricted profile has more options. If the child knows the adult PIN, the profile design has already failed.

4. Casting behaves differently between setups

YouTube supports linking and casting between phones and televisions. A blocked or unavailable TV app may interrupt some of those paths, but the exact behaviour can depend on the device, receiver and apps installed.

If casting is part of your household setup, test it after you apply the block instead of assuming the TV is covered.

If the rule changes every day, use a different kind of control

A profile is excellent for a static rule: YouTube is never allowed, or YouTube is always allowed inside the child profile.

It is clumsy for a moving rule: YouTube after homework, not before dinner, available on Saturday morning, blocked again tonight.

On Google TV, Family Link already gives you a good phone-side answer for app blocking. On Android TV, the built-in restricted profile has no equivalent remote switch.

TVCP is another option on both platforms. It pairs the TV app with TVCP Guardian on an Android phone or iPhone, letting you:

Block or unblock YouTube and other installed apps from your phone.
Lock or unlock the TV itself.
Start a Timer so the TV locks when time runs out.
Set a Schedule of the days and hours the TV can be used, with separate hours for weekdays and the weekend.
Set a max volume and turn on Uninstall Blocking.
Protect the controls on the television with a 4-digit PIN.

App blocking covers the TV’s main profile. If your child uses a separate profile, such as a Google TV kids profile or an Android TV restricted profile, a blocked app may still open there. On Google TV, the lock, Timer and Schedule cover every profile.

If YouTube should simply stay blocked forever, use the free built-in profile controls. They are already there and they do the job.

TVCP is more useful when the answer changes during the day or when you want the same phone-side control on Android TV as well as Google TV. It works on Android TV and Google TV only and starts with a 7-day free trial.

Try TVCP on Android TV or Google TV

Frequently asked questions

Can I block YouTube on my TV?

Yes. On Android TV you use a restricted profile, and on Google TV a kids profile with Manage apps, or Family Link on your phone. On a TV with another system, check its own settings and manual for what its app lock covers. With TVCP you block and unblock YouTube from your phone, on Android TV and Google TV. App blocking covers the TV’s main profile. If your child uses a separate profile, such as a Google TV kids profile or an Android TV restricted profile, a blocked app may still open there. On Google TV, TVCP’s lock, timer and schedule cover every profile.

How do I lock YouTube on my TV?

The same way you block it: take YouTube out of your child’s profile, then lock the way out of that profile. On Android TV, leave YouTube out of a restricted profile, and leaving the profile needs your PIN. On Google TV, uncheck YouTube under Manage apps in the kids profile, then lock profile switching with Kids lock or Profile lock. To undo it later, allow YouTube again in the same place. With TVCP you block and unblock YouTube from your phone in the TV’s main profile, or lock the whole TV.

How do I block YouTube on a Philips or TCL TV?

Check the system first. If it’s Google TV or Android TV, use this guide’s steps for that system, or TVCP. If the TV runs another system, such as Titan OS on many newer Philips models, these steps won’t work and neither will TVCP.

Can I completely block YouTube on Android TV?

Yes. Create a restricted profile and do not include YouTube in the allowed-apps list. The Play Store is unavailable inside that profile, so it cannot simply be reinstalled from there.

Can I block YouTube on Google TV?

Yes. In the child’s Google TV profile, open Manage apps and hide YouTube. Lock the kids profile or adult profiles so the child cannot bypass the restriction by switching profiles.

Can I block YouTube on Google TV from Family Link?

Yes. Google says Family Link can block and unblock apps for a child’s Google TV profile. If YouTube appears as separate mobile and TV versions, check that the TV version is blocked as well.

Does Restricted Mode block YouTube?

No. Restricted Mode filters some potentially mature content. The YouTube app remains available.

Can I block individual YouTube channels on the TV with Android TV parental controls?

Not through Android TV’s or Google TV’s app restrictions. Those controls hide or allow the entire YouTube app. Channel- and video-level controls belong inside YouTube’s supervised or kids experience. TVCP also blocks the whole app, not a single channel.

Can I set a time limit only for YouTube on the TV?

The built-in Google TV daily limit applies to the child’s TV profile rather than acting as a simple YouTube-only allowance, and Android TV’s restricted profile has no built-in time limit. Family Link can block the YouTube app on Google TV, while TVCP can switch YouTube on or off in the TV’s main profile, separately from its timers and schedules, which cover the whole TV.

Does blocking YouTube also block YouTube Kids?

It can. On current TV devices, YouTube Kids is accessed through the child’s profile in the main YouTube app. If you remove the app completely, you may remove access to that child experience as well.

Does TVCP work on Samsung, LG, Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV?

No. TVCP is built for Android TV and Google TV.

The bottom line

If your goal is no YouTube, block the app at the profile level: a restricted profile on Android TV or Manage apps in a Google TV kids profile. Then lock profile switching. That second part is what keeps the first part meaningful.

If your goal is safer YouTube, keep the app and use YouTube’s child/supervised controls and, where useful, Restricted Mode.

And if the real frustration is not the rule but having to walk back to the television every time the rule changes, Google TV has Family Link for app blocking, and TVCP adds phone-side app control in the TV’s main profile, plus a lock, timer and schedule for the whole TV, on both Android TV and Google TV.