When people talk about today's most popular social sharing websites, YouTube often gets left out of the conversation in favor of sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But don't be fooled: YouTube has a lot going for it. Although Facebook might be the largest social networking site, YouTube has the second greatest attain afterward Facebook in terms of general usage. It's also the second biggest search engine backside its parent company, Google.

And there are a ton of cool things yous can practise with YouTube that you might non know about, whether you use YouTube to scout videos, mail service them, or both. For example, did yous know YouTube has its ain virtual reality (VR) setting to view whatsoever video in 360 degrees? Or that y'all tin can create a YouTube time link that brings viewers to a specific moment in the video?  → Free Templates: How to Use YouTube for Business [Download Now]

Heed-blowing stuff, people. To aid y'all make the virtually out of the still very popular platform, we've put together a list of xx of the lesser-known hacks, tips, and features YouTube has to offering.

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20 YouTube Tricks, Hacks, and Features You'll Want to Know Well-nigh

ane. You can plough any YouTube video into a GIF using the URL.

Everyone loves GIFs, only knowing how to make them isn't common knowledge. Well, it should exist, because all it takes is a footling YouTube URL trick.

To create a GIF from a YouTube video: Select a video to watch on YouTube and notice the URL at the top of your browser. Add the word "gif" right earlier the domain name so it reads, "www.gifyoutube.com/[your-video-tag]."

This will bring you to gifs.com, with your video already uploaded and ready for editing. Here, you'll observe a menu of options to the left-mitt side with a timeline bar along the bottom of your video. Y'all tin can set up the GIF duration, crop its frame, add captions, and more.

YouTube trick to create a GIF from a video.

Click "Create GIF" on the top-right and it'll prompt yous for a GIF championship and set up of tags. Then click "Next," and y'all have a handy landing page from which to share your newly minted GIF. Keep in mind y'all can only download this GIF to an offline file past signing up with gifs.com.

two. You can create a link that starts a YouTube video at a certain time.

E'er wanted to send someone a YouTube video, merely bespeak them to a specific moment? Allow'southward say you're trying to recruit your friends to learn the dance in Justin Bieber'south "Sad" music video with you lot.

Instead of sending your friends the general YouTube link and instructing them to fast-forward to the 0:fifty minute mark, you tin actually ship them a specific YouTube fourth dimension link that starts the video at whichever time yous choose. Click hither to run across what I mean.

Alright, here'southward how to exercise information technology:

To create a link that starts a YouTube video at a certain fourth dimension: Open up the video and click "Share" to the far correct of the video title. Then, in the window of options that appears, bank check the box next to "First at:" and type in the time (in hours:minutes:seconds) yous want. Alternatively, you tin pause the video at the time yous want it to start and that field will autofill.

YouTube time link of a Justin Bieber video.

Subsequently a few moments, you lot'll come across a tag add itself to the end of the generic YouTube link (in this case, ?t=50s). Simply copy that link and paste information technology wherever you'd similar.

It's worth noting that you lot can't embed a video then information technology starts at a certain fourth dimension; you can't simply link to it.

3. You tin easily meet the written transcripts of people's videos.

Did yous know YouTube automatically generates a written transcript for every unmarried video uploaded to its website? That's right -- and anyone has access to that transcript unless the user manually hides it from viewers.

I can think of a number of different situations where video transcripts can come in handy. For instance, maybe yous want to write down a quote from a video, merely the tedium of pausing-and-typing, pausing-and-typing would drive you up a wall. Or perchance you need to notice a specific section of a video, but don't desire to rewatch the whole thing to detect it. With a transcript in manus, yous tin can observe information like this without doing information technology all by hand.

To see a video'due south transcript: Open up the video in YouTube and press the "More than" tab underneath the video championship. Choose "Transcript" from the driblet-down menu.

YouTube's more tag to find the video transcript.

(If you aren't seeing this selection, it's considering the user chose to hide the transcript.)

This transcript volition appear as a new module in the aforementioned window. In many cases, the user who uploaded the video volition non have gone back and manually polished the transcript, so information technology won't be perfect. But it'll certainly save you some time and pain.

Example of a YouTube transcript.

4. You can assistance your video go institute in search past editing or uploading a transcript.

Both YouTube and its parent company Google expect at a number of factors when ranking videos in search to determine what your video is about, and your transcript is ane of them. (An even bigger ranking factor is your video's clarification, which is why Digital Marketing Consultant Ryan Stewart suggests that you actually paste your transcript right into the description box, too.)

To add a transcript to your video: Open the video on YouTube, and you'll run across a row of icons just below the play button. Click the icon on the far right for "Subtitles/CC." (CC stands for "Closed Captions.)

YouTube closed captioning (CC).

Set your linguistic communication if you haven't already. Then, y'all'll then exist prompted to choose among iii different means to add subtitles or closed captions to your video ...

  1. Upload a pre-written text transcript or a timed subtitles file. (Learn more near the file types you tin upload and more here.)
  2. Paste in a full transcript of the video, wherein subtitle timings will be set automatically.
  3. Blazon them in as y'all picket the video.

The folks at YouTube have washed some great things to brand that third option (typing every bit you watch) as painless as possible. For example, if you bank check a box next to "Pause video while typing," it'll make the whole procedure a lot faster. Hither's a GIF showing that in action:

YouTube transcribe page.

Learn more about optimizing your YouTube videos for search in the below video.

v. You can employ YouTube to easily get free transcriptions of your videos and sound files.

This is the concluding one near transcripts, I hope -- but I'll bet you never thought about them this style. As you know from #iii, YouTube automatically adds a transcript to every video. But if you lot're looking for a one-off transcription of an audio or video file and don't want to pay for a service, YouTube'due south built-in captioning arrangement isn't a bad place to offset. Yous tin always clean it up afterwards.

To go an automatic transcription for a video: Just upload your video to YouTube, open it on YouTube'southward website, press the "More" tab underneath the video title, and choose "Transcript" from the drop-down menu. The transcript will appear as a new module in the aforementioned window. If you desire to make clean it up, follow the steps outlined in #iii for a user-friendly experience.

To get an automated transcription for an audio file: You lot'll need to upload your audio recording to YouTube using a service like TunesToTube. Information technology'll take anywhere between 2–30 minutes for YouTube to upload it. Then, follow the instructions for getting an automated transcription for a video, outlined above.

6. You can create, share, and collaborate on video playlists.

Just like on your other favorite media sharing sites like Spotify and iTunes, you tin can create a "playlist" on YouTube -- which is really just a identify to store and organize the videos (your ain and others'). You can keep playlists individual, brand them public, or fifty-fifty share them directly with others.

Playlists are useful for many unlike types of users, from an individual collecting cooking videos for their upcoming dinner political party to a brand that'due south segmenting its YouTube video content by topic. For example, Tasty's YouTube playlists pause up recipes by meal type, making it easier for people to scan and find what they're looking for:

Tasty playlists example.

To create a playlist on desktop: Become to your Playlists page past clicking here or clicking your account icon in the top right, choosing "Creator Studio," clicking "Video Managing director" on the left, and choosing "Playlists." Then, click "New Playlist" on the summit right and choose whether you'd like to keep information technology private or brand information technology public.

YouTube create new playlist page.

To create a playlist on mobile: Click here for instructions explaining how to create new playlists using your iOS or Android mobile devices.

To add a video to a playlist: If you're adding a video to a playlist while you're watching information technology, click the "Add to" icon below the video title and check the box next to the playlist to which yous'd like to add information technology.

Add to button for creating YouTube playlists.

If y'all want to add a video to a playlist right from your Playlists folio, just click "Add Video" and either paste in a video URL, choose a video from your uploads, or search for a video on YouTube. Once yous notice the video y'all want to add, select the "Add to" bill of fare from that video and add it to the playlist.

Your friends tin contribute to your playlists, too. All you have to exercise is turn on the power to collaborate on playlists. Once you turn information technology on, anyone you share a playlist link with can add videos to that playlist. (They can too remove any videos they've added, too.)

To add friends to a playlist: Go to your Playlists page again and open the playlist yous want to interact on. Click "Playlist Settings" and choose the "Collaborate" tag. Toggle on the setting that allows collaborators to add videos to the playlist, and from there, y'all tin can send them a link where they can add videos to the playlist.

YouTube collaborate playlist setting.

Once your friend's been invited to a playlist, they'll be able to add together new videos to it and remove videos they've added in the past. They but take to follow some on-screen instructions get-go to confirm they want to exist a contributor and to save the playlist to their own account.

When you add a video to a playlist you're collaborating on, your name volition announced next to the video in the playlist, and everyone who's been invited to collaborate on that playlist volition get a notification that a new video has been added.

(To learn more virtually how to manage contributors, cease accepting contributions to a playlist, and so on, read this YouTube Support page.)

7. You can save videos to lookout man after.

E'er seen YouTube videos yous wished you could bookmark for later? Perchance you aren't able to plough the audio on at the moment, or possibly y'all just don't have time to watch it. Well, YouTube took a page out of Facebook's ... volume ... by adding something very similar to Facebook's "Relieve for After" feature. On YouTube, you can save videos to a "Watch After" playlist to admission whenever you lot want.

The "Watch Later" playlist operates just like a normal playlist, and so the instructions are identical to the previous step (except you lot can't invite others to interact on your "Sentry Afterwards" playlist).

To add a video to your "Picket After" playlist: Open the video on YouTube and click the "Add to" icon below the video title and check the box next to the playlist you'd like to add together it to, just like you did in the previous stride. The steps are very similar on mobile, merely click here if you want the full instructions from YouTube's Support page.

To access those videos: Simply go to your YouTube homepage and cull "Watch Subsequently" from the menu on the upper left-hand side of your screen.

YouTube watch later option.

From at that place, yous tin can lookout man the videos you were saving, equally well every bit easily remove videos from that list that you've already watched.

viii. Yous can create your own custom YouTube URL.

Want to requite people an like shooting fish in a barrel-to-remember web address to get to your YouTube aqueduct? Yous can actually create a custom URL, which you tin base on things like your display name, your YouTube username, any current vanity URLs that you have, or the name of your linked website. HubSpot's, for example, is https://www.youtube.com/hubspot.

Important Note: Before you practise this, brand sure you're positive this is the custom URL you want -- because once it'south approved, you can't asking to alter information technology, nor can yous transfer it to someone else. Keep in listen that it'll be linked to both your YouTube channel and your Google+ identity, as well.

Unfortunately, not everyone's eligible for a custom URL. To get one, you lot have to have 100 or more subscribers, exist at least 30 days one-time, take an uploaded photo as your aqueduct icon, and take uploaded aqueduct fine art. If that sounds like you, go along reading.

To claim your custom URL: Open upward your YouTube account settings and click "Avant-garde" in your proper name section.

overview_youtube_screenshot.png

If you're eligible for a custom URL, you'll be prompted to merits yours by clicking a link.

advanced_youtube_settings.png

Select the box side by side to "I concord to the Terms of Service." Then, one time yous're absolutely sure it'south the URL y'all want (since yous can't e'er change it), click "Change URL" to make information technology terminal.

9. Yous can add together an stop screen or cards to promote content.

In 2008, YouTube began allowing clickable links YouTube called "annotations" that you lot could insert into your videos. These annotations worked kind of like telephone call-to-activity buttons for directing people to subscribe to your aqueduct, see merchandise or a fundraising campaign, visit another resource to acquire more than, then on.

In gild to make them more natural parts of the viewing experience, YouTube has replaced annotations with stop screens, where you lot can display more than visually pleasing phone call-to-action cards in the concluding 30 seconds of your content.

How to Add an Stop Screen

Do your favorite YouTube creators take a fancy closing screen that encourages y'all to keep watching their videos? For example, hither'south one from Saturday Night Live:

SNL_youtube_end screen.png

You can create a customized end screen, too. They assist go along viewers on your aqueduct by suggesting other videos and sites they can check out. Hither's how to practise it:

Navigate to your Video Managing director, tap "Edit," and select "End screen & Annotations" from the drop-down carte du jour:

YouTube end screen call to action.

From in that location, you're taken to the End screen creator studio, where you tin play around with dissimilar templates and background to determine how you want your end screen to appear. Then, click the "Add together element" menu to decide where y'all want to transport viewers from your end screen.

addelement_youtube.png

Whatever YouTube creators can add an end screen to customize their channels. Here'southward an explainer article with more details and inspirational ideas.

How to Add a Menu

You tin use cards to advertise products used in your videos or links on your website you want to market place on YouTube. If viewers tap the "i" in the upper-right mitt corner of a video, the cards aggrandize, as in the example below:

To add a menu to a YouTube video, head to your Video Managing director, tap "Edit," and select "Cards" from the drib-downwardly menu.

So, choose where in the video you want cards to announced, and tap the "Add card" drib-down bill of fare to choose what you want the bill of fare to promote. From at that place, customize the content that will appear to viewers when they tap the "i" while viewing your video:

add_card_youtube.png

10. YouTube has a large library of high-quality, royalty-gratuitous sound effects and music you can browse and download.

Want to add some cool sound effects or music to your YouTube video (or whatever video)? YouTube is there for y'all. It has a whole library of loftier-quality, 320kbps audio tracks and sound effects that you lot tin download royalty-gratuitous and add together to your videos. (Or listen to in your free time. We won't approximate.)

To add music or sound effects to your video: Open YouTube's Sound Library past clicking here or opening your Creator Studio, clicking "Create" in the menu on the left-hand side, and choosing "Audio Library."

Now, the fun begins. By default, information technology'll kickoff you on the "Audio furnishings" tab. Here, you can search sounds using the search bar, like I did in the screenshot below for motorcycle sounds.

youtube-audio-library.png

You can also toggle by category (everything from human being voices to weather sounds) or ringlet through favorites that you've starred in the by. For easy access in the hereafter, select the star to add the rails to your Favorites. The bars next to the songs show how popular a rail is.

If you switch over to the "Music" bar, you lot can browse through all of its royalty-free music. Yous won't find the Beatles in here, but yous will discover some good stuff -- similar suspenseful music, uplifting music, holiday music, jazz, and more. Instead of toggling by category, y'all can toggle by genre, mood, instrument, duration, and so on.

(Annotation: Some of the music files in there may have additional attribution requirements y'all have to follow, merely those are pretty conspicuously laid out on a song-by-song-basis. You tin learn more on YouTube's Support page here.)

Once y'all've found a track you similar, click the arrow to download it and it'll download straight to your computer as an MP3 file. Then, you can practice whatever you desire with information technology.

If you want to source sounds for your videos outside of YouTube, y'all'll but have to brand sure to you're following all the rules for sourcing them. Refer to this YouTube Support folio for best practices for sourcing audio, and this one to learn YouTube'southward music policies.

11. Add adjustments and creative furnishings with YouTube Enhancements.

YouTube has faded a number of features it experimented with at one time -- including annotations and a not-so-pop slideshow creator -- but ane editing tool that remains quite handy is Enhancements. Ix furnishings yous'd normally find on third-party video editing software, you can now take advantage of natively through YouTube:

  • Auto-fix lighting and color
  • Stabilize shaky camera motions
  • Utilize slow move
  • Employ fourth dimension lapse
  • Trim out parts of your video
  • Rotate the view
  • Apply filters
  • Custom blurring
  • Mistiness faces

To brand enhancements to an existing video: Click into your Video Manager and find a video you'd like to edit. Select the drop-downward icon adjacent to "Edit" to the right of the video, and select "Enhancements."

YouTube enhancements and effects feature.

YouTube filters and other enhancements.

Images via filmora

If you're editing on a computer, this button volition open all ix tools to the right of your video, where you can add various fixes, filters, and blurring effects and meet how they change the final production in existent fourth dimension.

Note that non all enhancements are available on mobile devices. On Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, you can only trim, add music, and apply filters. Read this article to learn more than well-nigh YouTube enhancements.

12. Play YouTube videos in the background on mobile devices.

Sometimes, your own music playlist just isn't cutting it. Or perchance you want to mind to your favorite artist'southward performance at an awards prove.

Either way, if you've tried listening to music on YouTube via your mobile device, you may have noticed one thing: Y'all can't navigate out of the app. You have to go along YouTube open, and you lot tin can't apply your phone for anything else, in gild to listen to something on YouTube. Kind of frustrating if you're trying to multitask on your commute home, right?

Now, in that location are hacks so you tin listen to YouTube content in the groundwork while notwithstanding using your mobile device. Hither's what you do:

How to Spotter YouTube Videos in the Background: iOS

Open Safari on your mobile device, and navigate to a video you want to spotter on https://world wide web.youtube.com. Start playing the video you lot want to heed to, then tap the Home button to close out of Safari. (I chose Katy Perry.)

youtube_katy1.png

Then, swipe up on your habitation screen to reveal the Activeness Center.

Then, swipe left to reveal the second screen on your Action Center. The details of the video you selected on YouTube should appear, and from in that location, simply tap Play to keep jamming.

youtube_katy2.0.png

youtube_katy2.png

How to Watch YouTube Videos in the Background: Android

Launch Firefox or Chrome on your mobile device, and navigate to a video you want to play on https://world wide web.youtube.com. And so, tap the "Settings" menu in the upper correct-mitt corner (the ellipses) and select "Request Desktop Site."

turn-to-desktop-android1-1200x800-c.jpg

Epitome via DigitalTrends

And then, beginning playing the video on YouTube, and tap the Home push button to return to your home screen. The audio volition keep playing in the background equally you use other apps.

13. You can live stream videos to YouTube.

Live streaming video has been a big topic of conversation for the past few years. It's seen massive growth, especially in the past few years with the appearance of Twitter's Periscope, Facebook Live, and Instagram live videos.

Learning how to get alive on YouTube is a piddling more complex (and confusing) than live streaming using similar platforms. On YouTube'due south easier streaming option, there'southward no unproblematic "get-go" button; instead, you actually accept to download encoding software and prepare it up to apply live streaming at all. YouTube has identified 13+ encoders that are Live Verified.

If y'all're streaming a live event, though, all yous need is a webcam. We'll get to that in a 2d.

Live Stream From Your Desktop Computer

Log in to YouTube and click the "Upload" push button at the summit-right of your screen. Normally, this is where you'd upload a pre-existing video -- but instead, you'll desire to observe the "Live Streaming" module on the right-hand side of your screen. Click "Get Started" in that module.

youtube_features_live_streaming.png

Before you get alive, YouTube volition first ostend that your channel is verified and that you have no live stream restrictions in the last 90 days. Once that's all set, you have two options for streaming: "Stream now" and "Alive Events."

Stream Now

Stream Now is the simpler, quicker option for live streaming, which is why it'south YouTube's default for live streaming. You'll come across a fancy dashboard similar the one below when you choose "Live Streaming" on the left-paw Creator Studio menu:

youtube_livestream dashboard.png

Again, you'll detect there's no "beginning" push button on the dashboard. This is where you'll demand to open your encoder and start and stop your streaming from in that location. Here'southward YouTube'southward Alive Streaming FAQ page for more detailed information.

Live Events

Alive Events gives you a lot more than control over the live stream. You lot can preview it before it goes live, it'll requite you backup redundancy streams, and you tin start and stop the stream when you want.

Cull "Live Events" from your live streaming dashboard once you've enabled it. Hither's what the events dashboard looks like, and you tin can learn more than about it here.

youtube-live-event.png

When you end streaming, we'll automatically upload an archive of your live stream to your aqueduct. Note that your completed alive stream videos are automatically made public on your channel past default as before long equally yous're done recording. To brand them disappear from the public center once y'all're done, you can select "Make archive private when complete" in the "Stream Options" section of your live dashboard.

Alive Stream From Your Mobile Device

YouTube has besides rolled out live streaming from mobile devices for YouTube creators with 10,000 or more than subscribers (equally of the engagement of this posting -- that will be available to all creators shortly, according to YouTube's blog mail service).

Alive streaming is more intuitive from mobile devices than on desktop computers. Qualified creators tin simply open their YouTube app on mobile, tap the camera icon at the top of the screen, and choose "Get Live."

From there, creators tin enter details almost the broadcast before immediately recording live for their subscribers, as shown beneath:

CameoFlow-1.gif

Image via YouTube

For more instruction on how to go live on YouTube beyond devices, YouTube published a Assistance article here. Want to run into what live videos others are recording on YouTube? You can browse popular YouTube videos that are live right now by clicking here.

14. Yous tin upload and watch 360-degree videos (live and pre-recorded) -- and in VR.

YouTube get-go announced its support for 360-degree videos back in March 2015, and it was a total novelty -- non to mention a game-changer. Since then, brands, athletes, and other users have created some crawly 360-caste content, similar this video from Samsung:

As you can meet, the experience as a viewer is really, actually cool. On desktop, y'all can click around the video to encounter all the different angles while the video plays. On mobile, it'south even libation: You tin movement your camera around to change the angle. You can browse the trending 360-caste and VR videos here.

How to Create a 360-degree Video on YouTube

For this, you'll need some serious equipment. Cameras with 360-degree adequacy that are compatible with YouTube are listed hither on YouTube's Support page, along with how to create and upload a 360-degree video file.

What about live video in 360 degrees? That announcement would come a year after the first ane, in April 2016 -- the very same calendar week Facebook announced its own design for a 360-caste camera. Luckily for the folks at YouTube, it shell Facebook by supporting both alive video and 360-caste footage all at once.

How to Watch Whatever YouTube Video in VR

The Verge called 360 live-streamed videos "the gateway drug to virtual reality" for YouTube. Other than the YouTube website or app, you don't need whatsoever fancy equipment to be able to watch a 360-caste live video and feel like you're basically there.

That doesn't mean a headset isn't an option -- and an awesome one at that, since YouTube released its Cardboard feature. Cardboard is bachelor on whatever YouTube video yous watch or upload, and works with Google Cardboard (an actual VR headset past Google) and several other VR headsets available today.

To utilize Cardboard while watching a YouTube video via mobile: Select any video in your YouTube mobile app, then tap the three dots in the upper-correct hand corner of the video. In the drop-down, select "View in Cardboard." You lot may already see this option visible in the bottom-correct of 360-degree videos.

youtube_features_view_cardboard.png

This will prompt you to connect your mobile device to a compatible VR device. Once yous do, gear up for a stellar experience, and just imagine what this could hateful for the content with which you populate your own YouTube channel.

15. YouTube ads target you lot based on an algorithm similar to Google and Facebook.

How does the YouTube algorithm decide which ads play on the videos you spotter?

Turns out information technology works a lot like Google and Facebook ads do. Like on other free sites, the advertisers help fund the YouTube experience in return for exposure to ads. You'll see certain ads over others considering of your demographic groups, your interests (which is judged in office by what you lot search on Google and YouTube) and the content y'all've viewed before, including whether or not you've interacted with the advertiser's videos, ads, or YouTube channel.

YouTube's algorithms likewise effort to make sure people aren't overloaded with ads while watching videos -- so it actually sometimes won't bear witness ads on monetizable videos, even when at that place's a demographic match.

Here are the five ad formats you can expect to run across on YouTube, and how they piece of work:

A. Display ads, which show up next to the video and but appear simply on desktop and laptop computers. The advertiser gets paid when you meet or click on the ad, depending on their selection.

youtube-display-ads.png

Image via YouTube's Creator Academy

B. Overlay ads, which announced beyond the bottom twenty% of the video window and currently only appears only on desktop and laptop computers. You tin can X out of the advertizement at any fourth dimension.

youtube-overlay-ads.png

Image via YouTube's Creator Academy

C. TrueView in-stream, skippable video ads, which are most common ads. These are the ones you can skip later watching for v seconds. Advertisers tin put it earlier, during (yikes!), or after the video plays, and they get paid only if you scout at least 30 seconds of the clip or to the terminate of the video ad -- whichever comes first.

youtube-in-stream-skippable-video-ads.png

Image via YouTube'south Creator Academy

D. Not-skippable video ads, which are those longer, fifteen-or-more-2d ads y'all see before plays and tin't skip afterwards whatsoever period of time, no matter how much y'all shout at your screen.

youtube-non-skippable-video-ads-2.png

Paradigm via YouTube'southward Creator Academy

E. Midroll ads, which are ads that are only available for videos over 15 minutes long that are spaced within the video similar Boob tube commercials. You demand to lookout man the advertizement earlier continuing through the video. How the advertiser gets paid depends on the type of advertizing: If the midroll is a TrueView ad, you'd take to watch 30 seconds of the end or the unabridged ad -- whichever is shorter. If it'due south a CPM-based ad, y'all have to picket the entire advertisement no matter how long it is.

youtube-midroll-ads-1.png

Paradigm Credit: YouTube'southward Creator Academy

F. Bumper ads, which are curt, non-skippable ads upward to half dozen seconds long that play before the video the viewer has selected. Bumper ads are optimized for mobile devices and must exist watched in their entirety before viewers can progress to the video they desire to view.

bumperad_youtube.png

16. You can remove ads from YouTube videos (and picket videos offline) for 10 bucks a month.

Video ads are the reason you tin can picket videos for free on YouTube. It's a fact many of us have come up to accept. But with YouTube's subscription service YouTube Red, that doesn't necessarily have to exist true anymore.

For $nine.99 a month, you can watch YouTube videos ... without whatever ads. And, in addition to ad-free videos, you can relieve videos on your mobile device and sentry them in the groundwork and/or offline, and you tin use YouTube's Music App (on iOS and Android) in the groundwork, offline, and/or on sound style. This is not a drill.

You'd think the lure of advert-free videos would have caused more of an uproar since its launch in late 2015, specially given YouTube'southward domination in the music space. Surprisingly, I haven't heard much racket about it. But YouTube hasn't disclosed subscriber numbers (the service reportedly has around one.five million subscribers) then it's hard to tell how well it'south doing. Either mode, information technology's good to know nearly -- peculiarly if you like collecting songs and music videos similar I practise, simply don't like when they become cleaved up by ads.

17. Yous can use Google Trends to explore and compare popular YouTube search terms over time.

You might already use Google Trends to look at the popularity of specific search terms over time. (It tin can be a slap-up marketing tool for making smarter keyword choices, for case.) But did you know you can use it to compare the popularity of YouTube search queries, specifically?

All y'all have to do is open up Google Trends and blazon a search term into the "Explore topics" search bar at the height. Once that folio opens upward, click on "Spider web Search" to open a drib-downward menu, and choose "YouTube Search" so it filters by YouTube searches specifically.

youtube_googletrends.png

You might find that, for some search terms, the search trends are very different on Google (in a higher place) than on YouTube (below).

youtube_googletrends_2.png

xviii. There'due south a 'safer' version of YouTube available for your kids.

Any parent will tell you how scary it is for their kids to theoretically have access to everything public on the internet. Merely for your younger kids, there are ways to curb that access and have more control of what they're watching and finding -- including a kids' version of YouTube called YouTube Kids.

The folks at YouTube call YouTube Kids "a safer version of YouTube." Information technology'southward not a wide-open up library of online videos like YouTube is; instead, it uses filters powered past algorithms to select videos from YouTube that are safe for kids to spotter. It's also totally free, thanks to ads (which are regulated every bit advisedly every bit possible).

Y'all can either plough the search feature on or off, depending on whether yous're cool with your kids searching for videos themselves -- or if you'd rather limit them to a certain fix of videos selected past the app, along with those the app recommends based on what they've watched already. You can fix a timer to limit how much time a kid spends on the app, which is music to many parents' ears.

The algorithm is darn good -- recollect, Google is YouTube's parent company -- but, equally it warns in its parents' guide, "no algorithm is perfect."

19. You tin at present clear your YouTube History.

You might eventually want to delete items from your YouTube search or spotter history. YouTube lets yous completely articulate your history, pause your history so it stops recording what you search for and lookout man from that point forward, or go through your history and delete certain videos.

To delete your history on your desktop or mobile device: Navigate to the "Watch History" carte. Hither's where it lives on your desktop browser homepage and in your mobile app, respectively:

youtube_history.png

youtube_library.png youtube_history_mobile.png

From there, you can "clear all watch history" (permanently delete the tape of everything you lot've watched), "pause watch history" (stop recording the videos you spotter going forward), or individually remove videos from your history past tapping the X or ellipses next to videos. Here'southward what it looks similar on desktop and on mobile, beneath:

youtube_features_clear_watch_history.png

youtube_delete_history_mobile.png

YouTube published a Help article if y'all need more instruction for deleting items from your YouTube spotter history, besides.

xx. You can learn about YouTube's copyrights terms from a cast of ridiculous puppets.

Made it this far? Here'due south a niggling advantage: YouTube'southward "Copyrights Basics" FAQ folio, which is, fittingly a YouTube video -- and features a pretty colorful cast of characters. It's really super informative, and it looks like YouTube's video team had a lot of fun making it.

My favorite line is probably, "Y'all know there are links on this webpage, right? Y'all don't have to lookout man this." Although the chorus of gorilla puppets was pretty slap-up, too.

Enjoy.

We promise nosotros've opened your eyes to some of the more than awesome YouTube hacks, tips, and features out there that you may not have known nigh. Now log on to YouTube and exercise some exploring yourself. The platform certainly isn't going anywhere.

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Originally published Oct 26, 2020 7:00:00 AM, updated July 26 2021