YouTube playlists are a handy tool to create and categorize curated lists of the platform's videos. As well as the often used “Watch Later”, you can create a playlist on YouTube to contain your favorite music, tutorials, or sketches.
The nice thing about playlists is that they don't need to be specific to you. You can share them with friends and family for them to view, edit, and contribute to. The only real restriction is that they can't include “Made for Kids” videos due to US regulations.
Unfortunately, though, the playlist creation process isn't as intuitive as it could be. Today, we'll show you how to make a YouTube playlist on mobile and the web so you don't have to struggle.
How to Create Playlist on YouTube Web
To create a YouTube playlist, you'll first need a YouTube account. If you have a Google account, you can simply log in with that. If not, you'll want to create one here and then follow the steps below:
- Find your video and press the “Save” button
On the web, you'll find the Save button just underneath the video's title. If you're in full-screen mode, you'll have to press “f” on your keyboard first.
- Click “Create new playlist”
You can also add it to the default “Watch later” playlist if you wish.
- Name the playlist and select its privacy settings
Type a name for the playlist in the “Name” field, then choose between YouTube's three privacy options: Public, Unlisted, and Private.
Anyone on YouTube can view a public playlist, including those who aren't subscribed to you. Unlisted playlists allow anyone with the direct link to view it, and private makes it so only someone logged into your account can see.
Once you click “Create” the video will be instantly added to the playlist. You can repeat this process with any additional videos, simply ticking your playlist instead of creating a new one.
- View your new YouTube playlist
You can find your YouTube playlists by pressing the hamburger menu (?) in the top left corner and selecting them from underneath “Watch later” button. Once on the playlist screen, you rename it by pressing the pencil icon, or press the drop-down next to your privacy setting to change it.
If you press the three dots next to the shuffle button, you can also change its settings, add videos, delete, or add collaborators.
How to Make a YouTube Playlist on Android, iPhone, and iPad
The process to create a playlist on YouTube mobile is a little different to the web. You'll notice that YouTube automatically adds the video to your most recent playlist, requiring manual intervention.
- Press the “Save” button underneath the video
- Click “Change” at the bottom of your screen
Frustratingly, YouTube will automatically save the video to your most recent playlist. That's not what we want, so instead press “Change” in the grey bar that appears at the bottom of your screen.
- Press “New playlist”
This button should be in the top-right of the “Save video to…” pop-up.
- Name the playlist
- Choose your privacy options
For the unfamiliar, YouTube has three privacy options: Public, Unlisted, and Private. Anyone on YouTube can view a public playlist, including those who aren't subscribed to you. Unlisted playlists allow anyone with the direct link to view it, and private makes it so only someone logged into your account can see.
- Press “Create”
There you have it. The video will be automatically added to your new playlist. You can add additional videos by hitting the “Save” button on other videos.
To access your YouTube playlists on YouTube mobile, just click the “Library” button in the bottom-right and scroll down. You can click on any playlist and press the pencil icon to rename it and adjust privacy settings. Unfortunately, you don't seem to be able to share it with collaborators from mobile at this time.
Now that you know how to make a YouTube playlist, you may want to jump into our other related content. Why not learn to enable picture-in-picture mode or embed a video in PowerPoint?
Last Updated on February 14, 2022 7:44 pm CET by Markus Kasanmascheff