YouTube is adding an option to hide those often annoying end screen links, so you can remove distractions from the playback, if you choose.
You know the ones I mean, those “Thank you for watching” and “Up next” links that pop-up on the screen in the last 10 seconds of a YouTube video.
These can be helpful, but also annoying, and over the last few months, YouTube has been experimenting with a way to remove them, via a new “Hide” option that appears in the top right corner of the playback window whenever end screens appear.
And evidently, those tests have shown promise, with YouTube now rolling it out to all users.
As per YouTube:
“We’re adding a “Hide” button that allows you to dismiss end screens on videos. If end screens show up when you have finished watching content, you can tap the “Hide” button in the top-right corner of the video player to hide them from the current video you’re watching.”
So now, if you’re trying to see that last frame, or you just don’t like the end screen overlay, you can remove it, and continue watching the YouTube video as the creator intended. And if you want to bring end screens back, you can tap “Show” after they’re hidden.
YouTube also notes that the option will only hide the end screen from the video that you’re watching, and cannot be set as the default.
As noted, YouTube has been testing the option over the past few months, and it’s confident that the option to remove end screens will have little impact on creators.
“We have closely analyzed the potential impact of the changes we’re introducing and we expect there to be minimal impact to your performance. Giving users the option to hide end screens resulted in a less than 1.5% decrease in views from end screens, based on a global experiment on mobile from March-July 2025.”
So minimal impact on user engagement, but another option for viewers, which addresses a key concern raised as to how these overlays can impact the viewing experience.
On a related front, YouTube is also removing the “Subscribe” button that appears when you hover your cursor over a video’s branded watermark on desktop.
“Since there’s already a Subscribe button directly below the video player, we’re removing this additional Subscribe button to simplify and improve the viewing experience.”
YouTube also expects that this will have little to no impact on subscription rates.
