Q&A for How to Make Your YouTube Video Private

If a video includes identifiable landmarks, such as a park, school, or neighborhood, it can inadvertently reveal the uploader's location. Personal videos might also show details like the uploader's home or school, which is why many choose to keep them private to protect their privacy and safety.

People might choose to make a video unlisted to restrict general access while still allowing comments, as setting a video to private disables the comment section.

Yes, a creator might make a video private if they are undecided about the title or description.

Since private videos are not publicly accessible, detecting illegal activity in them depends on whether they are shared with others who might report or uncover the content.

The views you see are from watching your own video. The lock icon indicates the video is set to "private." To ensure it's private, select the lock icon in the video's visibility settings.

They might make the video private if it accidentally reveals their home location.

A video can unintentionally reveal personal information through visible faces, addresses, or recognizable landmarks that indicate location. Even small details, like a pet's name or a unique nickname, can be pieced together to identify someone. Filming inside or outside a home could expose its location, and any unintended appearances or overlooked details in a video might reveal more than intended when made public.

They might feel embarrassed by negative feedback and prefer to prevent the video from being seen altogether. There could also be a fear of public humiliation. Making a video private automatically disables comments as well.

Your video might have been made private if the creator felt uneasy about the content, perhaps due to concerns about negative feedback or experiences with bullying.

Yes, you can make livestreams private using the same visibility settings as any other video. You can invite up to 50 people by entering their email addresses to give them access to the livestream. Ensure you meet YouTube’s requirements to enable livestreaming.

Deciding to upload a video privately depends on its content and how personal it is. If the video reveals sensitive information like your location or includes others who haven’t consented to be in it, consider making it private. Videos that are potentially embarrassing or contain personal details are often best kept private.

A private video can be in a public playlist if it was added before its privacy setting was changed to private. In a personal playlist, it might remain for easy access by approved users or because it fits the playlist's theme.

No, private videos are secure and can only be viewed by people whose email addresses are on an approved list. However, ensure that no one unauthorized is physically near you when you are accessing the video, and don't leave your account open, as these are potential ways for others to see it.

You can do this in your channel's dashboard for an existing video or right when uploading a new video. When you click "Share Privately" you just type the email addresses of the people who you want to see the video.

A video might be made private for reasons other than personal information. It could be embarrassing or negatively affect the creator's online persona. The creator might also be unsure about the title or description, or it could be due to copyright issues, which might force the video to be made private or even deleted.

Some people don't really know anyone else who they are comfortable sharing it with, so they just watch it by themselves.

It's the only way you can safely send the video to them. YouTube doesn't have a private messaging system, so the email is the closest thing.

They may have accidentally included it in a public or unlisted playlist, or embedded it to a public page outside of YouTube. Those are the only places you can find an unlisted video as those types of videos don't show up in search results.

Someone might make a video public if they are no longer embarrassed by the content or have finished editing the title or description. Initially, they may keep it private while deciding if any edits are needed, releasing it publicly once satisfied with the content.

You'd have to find them in your channel's dashboard. On your channel, click "Manage videos", or click your icon at the top of the screen and click "YouTube Studio", and you will see every video you have uploaded. You can add a private video to a playlist, including right in the middle of uploading it. They will show up in a playlist, but to those who aren't allowed to watch it, it will just show as "Private video" and clicking it will result in a blank screen.

Yes. That's a common reason for a video being temporarily private. Sometimes people are momentarily too busy to work on the description/title, so they upload it as private until they're ready to work on it.

You can add up to 50 email addresses for viewers who can watch the private video. To remove certain email addresses, just click the X button next to the name of the address and they'll be removed from the list.

There are several reasons to make a video private. Private videos are often personal content like family videos, school projects, or collaborations that include sensitive information such as location details. They are usually intended for a specific audience, such as family members, friends, or classmates, and some are uploaded solely for personal viewing.

You should make a video private to restrict access to yourself or a select group, like family and friends. This is useful if the video was unintentionally made public, contains personal information, if you want to avoid unwanted feedback, or includes sensitive content.

No, private videos do not have a comment section, and there is no setting to enable it. If you want to allow comments on a video that is not publicly available, you should change the video settings to "unlisted."

To allow others to view your private YouTube video, go to your channel's dashboard and select "Videos" from the sidebar. Change the video's visibility to "private" and enter their email addresses in the provided box. They will receive a notification with a link to the video.