diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/local/playlist/LocalPlaylistFragment.java b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/local/playlist/LocalPlaylistFragment.java
index c68cd2f55..315056f6c 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/local/playlist/LocalPlaylistFragment.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/local/playlist/LocalPlaylistFragment.java
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package org.schabi.newpipe.local.playlist;
 
 import android.app.Activity;
 import android.content.Context;
-import android.os.AsyncTask;
 import android.os.Bundle;
 import android.os.Parcelable;
 import android.text.TextUtils;
@@ -56,6 +55,7 @@ import io.reactivex.android.schedulers.AndroidSchedulers;
 import io.reactivex.disposables.CompositeDisposable;
 import io.reactivex.disposables.Disposable;
 import io.reactivex.disposables.Disposables;
+import io.reactivex.schedulers.Schedulers;
 import io.reactivex.subjects.PublishSubject;
 
 import static org.schabi.newpipe.util.AnimationUtils.animateView;
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
     private View headerPlayAllButton;
     private View headerPopupButton;
     private View headerBackgroundButton;
-
+    
     private ItemTouchHelper itemTouchHelper;
 
     private LocalPlaylistManager playlistManager;
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
 
     private PublishSubject<Long> debouncedSaveSignal;
     private CompositeDisposable disposables;
+    private Disposable removeWatchedWorker;
 
     /* Has the playlist been fully loaded from db */
     private AtomicBoolean isLoadingComplete;
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
 
         headerStreamCount = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.playlist_stream_count);
 
-        playlistControl = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.local_playlist_control);
+        playlistControl = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.playlist_control);
         headerPlayAllButton = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.playlist_ctrl_play_all_button);
         headerPopupButton = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.playlist_ctrl_play_popup_button);
         headerBackgroundButton = headerRootLayout.findViewById(R.id.playlist_ctrl_play_bg_button);
@@ -299,6 +300,9 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
             disposables.dispose();
         }
 
+        if(removeWatchedWorker != null) removeWatchedWorker.dispose();
+        removeWatchedWorker = null;
+
         debouncedSaveSignal = null;
         playlistManager = null;
         disposables = null;
@@ -352,9 +356,21 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
     public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
         switch (item.getItemId()) {
             case R.id.menu_item_removeWatched:
-                //Solution, Scorched Earth, Copy non duplicates, clear playlist, then copy back over
-                //Other options didn't work as intended, or crashed. Like deleteItem(playlist_item) crashes when called in this function.
-                new RemoveWatchedStreams().execute();
+                RemoveWatchedStreams remover = new RemoveWatchedStreams();
+
+                remover.onPreExecute();
+                removeWatchedWorker = Flowable.just(playlistManager.getPlaylistStreams(playlistId).blockingFirst())
+                        .subscribeOn(Schedulers.newThread())
+                        .filter((@NonNull List<PlaylistStreamEntry> playlist) -> {
+                                remover.doInBackground(playlist);
+                                return true;
+                            }
+                        ).observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
+                        .subscribe(playlist -> {
+                            remover.onPostExecute();
+                        }, (@io.reactivex.annotations.NonNull Throwable throwable) -> {
+                            onError(throwable);
+                        });
                 break;
             default:
                 return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
@@ -716,27 +732,24 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
         return new SinglePlayQueue(streamInfoItems, index);
     }
 
-    private class RemoveWatchedStreams extends AsyncTask<String, Long, Long> {
+    private class RemoveWatchedStreams{
         List<PlaylistStreamEntry> localItems = new ArrayList<>();
         Long RemovedItemCount = 0l;
         boolean thumbnailVideoRemoved = false;
 
-        @Override
+        // Do this in the main thread
         protected void onPreExecute() {
-            super.onPreExecute();
             showLoading();
-            localItems.clear();
         }
 
-        @Override
-        protected Long doInBackground(String... urls) {
+        // Do not do this in the main thread
+        protected Long doInBackground(List<PlaylistStreamEntry> playlist) {
 
             HistoryRecordManager recordManager = new HistoryRecordManager(getContext());
             Iterator<StreamHistoryEntry> it_history;
             StreamHistoryEntry history_item;
 
-            Flowable<List<PlaylistStreamEntry>> playlist = playlistManager.getPlaylistStreams(playlistId);
-            Iterator<PlaylistStreamEntry> it_playlist = playlist.blockingFirst().iterator();
+            Iterator<PlaylistStreamEntry> it_playlist = playlist.iterator();
             PlaylistStreamEntry playlist_item = null;
 
             boolean isNonDuplicate;
@@ -769,8 +782,8 @@ public class LocalPlaylistFragment extends BaseLocalListFragment<List<PlaylistSt
             return this.RemovedItemCount;
         }
 
-        @Override
-        protected void onPostExecute(Long result) {
+        // Do this in the main thread
+        protected void onPostExecute() {
             itemListAdapter.clearStreamItemList();
             itemListAdapter.addItems(localItems);
             localItems.clear();
diff --git a/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_control.xml b/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_control.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index b70bd88e9..000000000
--- a/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_control.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,90 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-
-
-
-<LinearLayout
-    android:layout_width="match_parent"
-    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
-    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
-    android:id="@+id/local_playlist_control"
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:visibility="invisible"
-    tools:visibility="visible">
-
-    <LinearLayout
-        android:id="@+id/playlist_ctrl_play_bg_button"
-        android:layout_width="match_parent"
-        android:layout_height="@dimen/playlist_ctrl_height"
-        android:layout_weight="1"
-        android:gravity="center"
-        android:clickable="true"
-        android:focusable="true"
-        android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground">
-        <TextView
-            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
-            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
-            android:gravity="center_vertical"
-            android:text="@string/controls_background_title"
-            android:textSize="@dimen/channel_rss_title_size"
-            android:textColor="?attr/colorAccent"
-            android:drawablePadding="4dp"
-            android:drawableLeft="?attr/audio"
-            android:drawableStart="?attr/audio"/>
-    </LinearLayout>
-
-
-    <View android:id="@+id/anchorLeft"
-        android:layout_width="1dp"
-        android:layout_height="match_parent"
-        android:clickable="false"
-        android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/playlist_ctrl_seperator_margin"
-        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/playlist_ctrl_seperator_margin"
-        android:background="?attr/colorAccent"/>
-
-    <LinearLayout
-        android:layout_width="match_parent"
-        android:layout_height="match_parent"
-        android:layout_weight="1"
-        android:gravity="center"
-        android:clickable="true"
-        android:focusable="true"
-        android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"
-        android:id="@+id/playlist_ctrl_play_all_button">
-        <TextView
-            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
-            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
-            android:gravity="center_vertical"
-            android:text="@string/play_all"
-            android:textSize="@dimen/channel_rss_title_size"
-            android:textColor="?attr/colorAccent"/>
-    </LinearLayout>
-
-    <View android:id="@+id/anchorRight"
-        android:layout_width="1dp"
-        android:layout_height="match_parent"
-        android:clickable="false"
-        android:layout_marginBottom="@dimen/playlist_ctrl_seperator_margin"
-        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/playlist_ctrl_seperator_margin"
-        android:background="?attr/colorAccent"/>
-
-    <LinearLayout
-        android:layout_width="match_parent"
-        android:layout_height="match_parent"
-        android:layout_weight="1"
-        android:gravity="center"
-        android:clickable="true"
-        android:focusable="true"
-        android:background="?attr/selectableItemBackground"
-        android:id="@+id/playlist_ctrl_play_popup_button">
-        <TextView
-            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
-            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
-            android:gravity="center_vertical"
-            android:text="@string/controls_popup_title"
-            android:textSize="@dimen/channel_rss_title_size"
-            android:textColor="?attr/colorAccent"
-            android:drawablePadding="4dp"
-            android:drawableLeft="?attr/popup"
-            android:drawableStart="?attr/popup"/>
-    </LinearLayout>
-</LinearLayout>
diff --git a/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_header.xml b/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_header.xml
index 372187a64..04fe32ab0 100644
--- a/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_header.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/res/layout/local_playlist_header.xml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
         android:layout_height="wrap_content"
         android:layout_below="@id/playlist_stream_count">
 
-        <include layout="@layout/local_playlist_control" />
+        <include layout="@layout/playlist_control" />
     </LinearLayout>
 
 </RelativeLayout>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml b/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
index 770d3d4e8..e0591e7fd 100644
--- a/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
@@ -593,6 +593,7 @@
     <string name="choose_instance_prompt">Choose an instance</string>
     <string name="app_language_title">App language</string>
     <string name="systems_language">System default</string>
+    <string name="remove_watched">Remove watched</string>
     <string name="new_seek_duration_toast">Due to ExoPlayer constraints the seek duration was set to %d seconds</string>
     <!-- Time duration plurals -->
     <plurals name="seconds">
@@ -637,6 +638,4 @@
     <string name="feed_use_dedicated_fetch_method_enable_button">Enable fast mode</string>
     <string name="feed_use_dedicated_fetch_method_disable_button">Disable fast mode</string>
     <string name="feed_use_dedicated_fetch_method_help_text">Do you think feed loading is too slow? If so, try enabling fast loading (you can change it in settings or by pressing the button below).\n\nNewPipe offers two feed loading strategies:\n• Fetching the whole subscription channel, which is slow but complete.\n• Using a dedicated service endpoint, which is fast but usually not complete.\n\nThe difference between the two is that the fast one usually lacks some information, like the item\'s duration or type (can\'t distinguish between live videos and normal ones) and it may return less items.\n\nYouTube is an example of a service that offers this fast method with its RSS feed.\n\nSo the choice boils down to what you prefer: speed or precise information.</string>
-
-    <string name="remove_watched">Remove Watched</string>
 </resources>