If you are a frequent user of YouTube, watching videos constantly, you must have seen everything on YouTube. Not the videos, of course, but concepts. Even though YouTube is a streaming platform, you cannot always stream everything. You might have come across private videos. But much to your dismay, such videos do not allow strangers. So you cannot watch private videos easily. If you want to learn how to watch private videos on YouTube, we will provide you with everything in this article.
If you are ready to get right into the subject, then let us begin with the reasons that might deter you from viewing private videos on YouTube.
What Does Private Video Mean?
Private videos on YouTube mean that the provider of that video is limiting its viewing to themselves or to the people with whom they shared the video’s link. Sometimes people want to share their videos only with their close circle or prevent people from watching that video instead of deleting it. So you cannot watch that video; however, it is not impossible.
Why Can’t You Watch Private Videos on YouTube?
- Some users who upload videos to YouTube may choose to make their videos unlisted or unlisted. If someone shares the link with you, you can watch the unlisted video, but to access the private video, you need to contact the video owner and then request permission to view it.
- Private YouTube videos can only be viewed by any user permitted by the uploader on the video settings page of the particular video.
- Private videos cannot be seen in search results and do not appear as suggested videos, so you cannot search.
- It also does not notify subscribers that the private video has been uploaded. This helps preload videos with corporate profiles, which is very useful during campaign migration. The video can be made public at any convenient time.
What Is an Unlisted Video?
Although anyone can watch unpublished videos, they won’t appear in YouTube search results or the uploader’s channel. You cannot rely on YouTube’s search engine or external search engines to find unlisted videos; you can only watch them when someone shares a direct link with you. To access an unlisted video, you should consider sending a message to the uploader or contacting one of your friends who have already watched the video.
How to Watch Private Videos on YouTube
Even though it seems impossible to watch private videos on YouTube, it is not. There are a few methods to help you with this. You can also check the YouTube Help page for this matter.
Request Permission
By default, only users who upload private videos can only watch that video. This is done to protect their privacy, but uploaders (if they choose) can also manually add users to the list of people who are allowed access to private videos. So, to watch a private YouTube video, you need to contact the uploader, provide the Google account username required for authentication by YouTube, and ask them to grant access to the video.
Without Permission
If the uploader refuses to share the video link with you, you can try to watch it without having official permission. You can change private videos URL to watch without any restrictions.
- Find the video you want to watch and change its URL by removing the ‘watch?’ part.
- Clicking enter should give you access.
This method helps unlock private video; you can view it in the full window without login in. To comply with the age restriction policy, please refrain from using such measures for malicious purposes. But this is not an official method, so it might not work.
How to Open the Link to a Private Video
You can easily watch the private video if the creator has sent you a link. To access the video, follow the steps below.
- In your inbox on YouTube, click on the email sent by the person who uploaded the video to notify you that the video has been shared with you.
- A rectangular box with a smaller red box with three white horizontal dots will appear in the email. Click on one of the white horizontal dots.
- Click here to go to the video on YouTube. The video will now start playing in the YouTube app or browser. Note, however, that you have to log in to your YouTube account using the email that sent the private link.
Wish to know more about managing YouTube videos? Then you might as well check out our review on how to block videos on YouTube.
Conclusion
In this article, we showed you how to watch private videos on YouTube. Even though it does not seem like an easy process, you can try different methods we provided in this article to use to watch private videos. We hope it has been a helpful article for you. Live your Youtube adventure at its best.
1 Comment
I need to watch private videos on YouTube to be able to learn about a subject that is so dear to me. Keep up the good work. Will be reading this once more.