Should YouTube Shorts Have Been a Separate App, or Are They Here to Stay?

When YouTube launched Shorts in 2020 as its answer to TikTok, the idea seemed simple: capture the growing short-form video audience without losing users to other platforms. But years later, many longtime YouTube viewers feel that Shorts have invaded the platform, fundamentally changing how we experience the site. This has sparked a lively debate: should YouTube Shorts have been a completely separate app?

The Short-Form Invasion

At first, Shorts seemed harmless, a dedicated section on the homepage with a vertical-scroll interface. But over time, they’ve seeped into nearly every corner of YouTube. Open the app today and you’ll see Shorts sprinkled between long videos, recommended on the home feed, and, most frustratingly for some, in search results.

Many users voice the same complaint: search for a specific tutorial, song, or deep-dive video, and the first several results are often Shorts that barely match the query. The algorithm, optimized for engagement, heavily favors bite-sized content, leaving long-form creators struggling to compete for visibility.

One viral comment summed up the frustration perfectly: “Search literally anything on YouTube. Two search results, then Shorts, then ads, then more Shorts. It’s maddening.”

Why Shorts Clash with the YouTube Experience

YouTube has always been the home of long-form content: 10-minute tutorials, documentaries, tech reviews, and the rabbit holes that made the site addictive. Shorts, by nature, cater to fast, disposable entertainment. This creates friction for viewers who open YouTube to learn or explore, not to doom-scroll.

Common complaints include:

• Cluttered Search Results – Relevant long videos are buried under vertical clips.
• Obtrusive Interface – Shorts often have overlays, captions, buttons, and ad panels that eat up the small screen space.
• Limited Control – Features like playback speed, scrubbing, and easy duration checks are less intuitive.
• Algorithm Overreach – Watching a single Short can flood your feed with dozens more, reshaping recommendations overnight.

For viewers who value control and intentional viewing, Shorts feel like an unwelcome guest taking over the living room.

The Business Side of Shorts

While separating Shorts into their own app sounds appealing to frustrated users, it’s unlikely YouTube would make that move. The reason is simple: money and engagement.

Short-form content thrives on impulsive viewing. By keeping Shorts integrated into the main app, YouTube ensures:

• Higher Ad Exposure – Users scrolling Shorts are shown rapid, frequent ads.
• Boosted Session Time – Viewers may start with a Short and end up in an endless scroll loop.
• Algorithmic Lock-In – Merging Shorts with the primary platform helps YouTube compete directly with TikTok without splitting its audience.

If Shorts were moved to a separate app, they would likely lose massive amounts of casual traffic, making the feature far less profitable. From a business perspective, embedding Shorts into the main app was the most strategic choice, even if it annoys core users.

The Impact on Creators

Creators are caught in a difficult position. Shorts offer huge exposure potential, as YouTube aggressively pushes them to viewers. But that visibility often comes at a cost:

• Long-form creators risk losing watch time because Shorts dominate recommendations.
• Short-form success doesn’t always translate to long-term channel growth or loyal audiences.
• Algorithmic shifts toward Shorts have forced some creators to adapt even if it doesn’t align with their content style.

Meanwhile, users seeking niche or in-depth videos report that quality uploads are harder to find because Shorts and AI-generated clips now saturate search results.

Can You Escape Shorts?

For those who dislike Shorts, there are workarounds, but none are perfect. Some users rely on browser extensions to block Shorts on desktop or use alternative apps like NewPipe or SmartTube on Android. Others filter searches by video length or append terms like “before:2026” to push Shorts out of the results.

Still, the average viewer is left to either tolerate Shorts or abandon the platform’s main app in favor of curated subscriptions and playlists.

Should They Have Been a Separate App?

From a user-experience perspective, yes. A dedicated Shorts app would have preserved YouTube’s identity as the home of long-form video while giving short-form fans their own playground. It would also make search results cleaner, recommendations more relevant, and the platform less overwhelming for those who open YouTube to watch intentional content.

But from a business perspective, Shorts are exactly where YouTube wants them: in your face, in your feed, and inescapable. TikTok and Instagram Reels have proven that short-form content is an engagement goldmine, and YouTube is unlikely to give up that advantage.

The Future of the Platform

The rise of Shorts marks a broader shift in online content. Platforms are chasing fleeting attention spans, and the algorithms are designed to keep viewers scrolling instead of searching with purpose. Whether you love them or hate them, Shorts represent the new era of YouTube, one that prioritizes quick hits over long sessions of intentional viewing.

For many, the question isn’t whether Shorts should have been a separate app. It’s whether the YouTube we once knew can survive in a world that rewards speed over substance.