Keep the videos. Lose the scroll.
TrustStream takes the Shorts and Reels sections out of YouTube, Instagram and Facebook in Safari and other supported browsers, on the devices you choose. Ordinary videos and normal posts stay. It runs inside the Shield in your house, opens nothing else, and keeps no record of what anyone watched.
The 30-day home trial, worldwide: if Shield isn't right for your home, send it back for a full refund.
The part of the app built to keep them scrolling.
Shorts and Reels are a feed with no bottom: one short clip after another, chosen to keep a thumb moving. The rest of YouTube, Instagram and Facebook is still useful: the how-to video for tonight's homework, the recipe, the family's news.
Parents kept asking us the same thing: can it take the Shorts out and leave the rest? TrustStream is the answer. The sections built for endless scrolling come out on the device you choose; the videos and posts they actually came for stay.
How you switch it on.
- Step 1
Switch it on.
On your Shield, switch TrustStream on.
- Step 2
Add your Shield's certificate, once.
On each device you want it on, with it in your hand. That one step is what lets TrustStream work there, and nowhere else.
- Step 3
The scroll is gone.
Shorts and Reels leave YouTube, Instagram and Facebook on those devices, and ordinary videos and posts stay. Switch it off again from your Shield whenever you like.
The scroll comes out. Your privacy stays in.
To take Shorts and Reels out, your Shield has to open those three services on the devices you put it on. So we built TrustStream to open nothing more, and to forget as it goes.
Off until you switch it on.
TrustStream does nothing on any device until you turn it on, on your own Shield, and add your Shield's certificate to that device.
Only the devices you put it on.
You add your Shield's certificate to the child's device yourself. Every phone, tablet and laptop without it is left exactly as it was.
Three services, nothing else.
It opens YouTube, Instagram and Facebook on the devices you put it on, and nothing more. Banking, email, messaging apps, school and work sites pass straight through, unopened.
Inside your house.
It all happens on the Shield behind your modem. Nothing goes to a cloud, and nothing comes to us.
No record kept.
No web addresses, no searches, no passwords, nothing that was watched. TrustStream keeps counts, not a history.
Still the real YouTube.
Your Shield checks it is talking to the genuine YouTube, Instagram or Facebook before anything reaches the screen, and the connection out to them stays encrypted.
No app or extension on their phone, and no cloud in the middle. The rest of the Shield works the same way: what stays in your house, and what leaves it.
What changes, service by service.
YouTube
- Safari and other supported browsers
- The Shorts buttons and feed are hidden, and Shorts links open as ordinary videos. Normal videos stay.
- The phone app
- On iPhone and iPad (still experimental): the Shorts feed and scrolling are blocked, but a single clip may still play. The Android app isn't covered.
- Safari and other supported browsers
- The Reels buttons are hidden, and Reels links go back to the home page. Normal posts and ordinary feed videos stay.
- The phone app
- Reels can't be taken out on their own.
- Safari and other supported browsers
- Reels are blocked: the Reels tab, the Reels viewer and the Reels you can spot in the feed. Normal posts and ordinary videos stay.
- The phone app
- Reels can't be taken out on their own.
| Service | Safari and other supported browsers | The phone app |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | The Shorts buttons and feed are hidden, and Shorts links open as ordinary videos. Normal videos stay. | On iPhone and iPad (still experimental): the Shorts feed and scrolling are blocked, but a single clip may still play. The Android app isn't covered. |
| The Reels buttons are hidden, and Reels links go back to the home page. Normal posts and ordinary feed videos stay. | Reels can't be taken out on their own. | |
| Reels are blocked: the Reels tab, the Reels viewer and the Reels you can spot in the feed. Normal posts and ordinary videos stay. | Reels can't be taken out on their own. |
Where a phone app keeps its Reels or Shorts, you can switch that app off, and it stays off. App blocking that holds →
Whether the YouTube app on iPhone and iPad is included depends on the model: see the comparison.
Common questions.
Does it pick out particular topics, or the whole section?
The whole section. TrustStream takes out the Shorts and Reels sections themselves, not particular topics. For the kind of content, YouTube's Restricted Mode is one switch on your Shield, and it applies to every device in the house.
What about TikTok?
TikTok is short videos from top to bottom, so the answer there is the app itself: switch TikTok off on your Shield, and it stays off. The Shield closes the app's main route and the backup routes it switches to.
Can I see what my child watched?
No. TrustStream is there to take the scroll away, not to watch your child. It keeps no record of what anyone watched, searched or typed, and nothing about it is sent to us.
One small box at your modem. Your house rules on every screen.
TrustStream sits beside everything else a Shield does for the house: adult sites blocked, SafeSearch on, apps switched off when you say, and bedtime hours. No cloud, no account, no subscription.
Everything a Shield filters →YouTube and your Shield →
Not ready for a Shield? The free switches, app by app: wombatss.com/shorts