Millions of users despise YouTube Shorts. You cannot permanently disable Shorts in the official app. On version 2.3.6, Shorts literally do not exist. The bottom navigation bar has only three tabs: Home, Subscriptions, and Account.
Before we dive into the specifics of Version 2.3.6, let's take a step back and talk about what a YouTube APK is. APK stands for Android Package File, which is the file format used by Android devices to install and run apps. In the case of YouTube, the APK is the file that contains the app's code, data, and resources. youtube version 2.3 6 apk
| Feature | YouTube 2.3.6 (2012) | YouTube 18.xx (2026) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 1.8 MB | 82 MB | | RAM idle | 22 MB | 310 MB | | Startup time (cold) | 0.8 sec | 4.2 sec | | Data per hour (480p) | ~450 MB | ~1.1 GB (due to DASH overhead) | | Ad load per 10-min video | 0-1 static overlay | 4-8 unskippable + shopping cards | | Background play | No | Yes (Premium) | | Recommendation logic | None (manual browse) | Multilayer RNN + user graph | | Offline storage | No | Yes (Premium) | Millions of users despise YouTube Shorts
Unlike today's infinite scrolling, version 2.3.6 employed a rigid tab structure via a bottom bar (pre-Android 5.0 Holo dark theme): The bottom navigation bar has only three tabs:
Your phone will now be back to the 2025 version.
Despite patches, three functions are permanently broken in 2.3.6: