Change YouTube email address
Your email address on YouTube is your Google Account email address (also known as your Google username). Find out how to change your Google Account email address.
If your channel is connected to a Google+ page, you can add more channel manager accounts or transfer ownership of your channel.
Change YouTube password
You sign into YouTube with your Google Account, so your YouTube password is your Google Account password.
Find out how to change your Google Account password. Note that this will change your password for all Google services you use, like Gmail, Blogger, Calendar, and so on.
Change language or country settings
You can use these settings to see YouTube in a different language. Here’s how to change settings on different devices:
You can access different language and country options at the bottom of any YouTube page with the Language andCountry dropdowns. If your country isn’t listed, we recommend choosing the Worldwide option.
The YouTube iOS and Android apps follow the language setting of your device.
The YouTube mobile site also follows the language setting of your device, but you can change the language and country settings if you choose:
- Touch the Guide
in the upper left on m.youtube.com. - Touch the gear icon in the sidebar that appears.
- Go to Language to choose a different language.
- Go to Country to choose a different country. If your country isn’t listed, we recommend choosing the Worldwide option.
in the upper left on m.youtube.com.
in the sidebar that appears.Change language for email notifications
Your YouTube emails are delivered in the default language for your country. If you’ve changed your YouTube language settings, you can change your email settings to match:
- Go to your Email Settings.
- Scroll down to Language to update your email notification language.
Channel custom URL
When you have a custom URL, you can give people a short, easy-to-remember web address to find your YouTube channel (like youtube.com/c/creatoracademy). The URL options you can select from are based on things like your display name, your YouTube username, any current vanity URLs that you have, or the name of your linked website. Sometimes, you may need to customize the URL by adding letters and numbers to make it unique to you.
Once selected, your audience can reach your channel by navigating to either youtube.com/c/creatoracademy or youtube.com/creatoracademy (note that we are using the Creator Academy channel as an example here, your URL will be unique to your channel). Both URLs will redirect to your channel homepage.
Important: You can’t change your custom URL after you create it, so be sure you are comfortable with your choice before you finalize it.
Eligibility requirements
To get a custom URL for your channel, your account needs to be in good standing and meet a few other requirements:
- 500 or more subscribers
- Channels is at least 30 days old
- Channel has uploaded a photo for the channel icon
- Channel has uploaded channel art
You can also qualify for a custom URL by linking and verifying your official webpage with your channel or +Page.
Get a Custom URL for your channel
Once you’ve qualified for a custom URL, you’ll see a notice in your advanced account settings, you’ll receive an email notification, and you may see a notification in your Creator Studio dashboard.
To get your custom URL:
- Sign in to YouTube and navigate to your advanced account settings.
- In the Channel settings area, look for the notice to claim your custom URL and click the included link.
- You’ll be redirected to claim a custom URL.
- You’ll see the custom URL(s) you’ve been approved for. These cannot be changed. You may also need to add a few letters or numbers to make the URL unique to you.
- Click the box next to “I agree to the Terms of Service” then click Change URL in the bottom left corner.
- This URL will be linked to both your YouTube channel and your Google+ identity. Once your URL has been approved, you cannot request to change it. When you’re certain, click Confirm choice.
Change capitalization or accents of your custom URL
If you want to change the capitalization or accents/diacritics of your custom URL, follow these steps:
- Sign in to Google+. Place your cursor in the top left corner for the Google + main menu and then select the page or profile associated with your channel
- Click the About tab, and under Links > Google+ URL, click Edit.
- A box will appear allowing you to make edits to the formatting.
Remember, you can only change the capitalization and diacritics of the URL, not the URL itself.
Delete your YouTube channel
Closing your YouTube channel will delete your data including videos, messages, comments, and your channel. You will not be able to open a new channel with the same URL. Note that deleting a channel is currently not possible on mobile devices.
You have a few options to take down your channel:
- Hide your channel through Google Account settings:
- Go to your Google Account settings.
- Make sure you sign in with your YouTube channel’s Google Account.
- Under Account management, click Remove YouTube content.
- Choose to hide your YouTube channel and content. Be sure to read carefully; some content will be irreversibly deleted.
- You can re-enable your channel later if desired.
- Delete your Google+ profile. This will hide your channel and content unless you restore the profile. This will also allow you to then permanently delete your channel through Google Account settings (mentioned above).
- Delete your entire Google Account.
- Make sure you’re signed in to the channel you want to delete.
- Go to your advanced account settings.
- Click Delete channel. You’ll be asked to re-enter your sign-in details to confirm that you want to delete your channel.
- Note that if your channel is connected to a Google+ page, this will not delete the page. If you want, you candelete the page afterwards.
You may still see thumbnails of your videos on the site as it takes time to update; they will be removed shortly.
Set default channel for account
If your Google Account includes more than one YouTube channel, you may see a popup to choose a channel when you sign in:
If you want to always sign in directly to one channel, you can set a default channel in the popup. Just select the one you want and check Don’t ask me again. You can still easily switch to other channels on the account.
Change the default channel
To change the default channel on your Google Account:
- On a computer, sign in to YouTube with your Google Account.
- Switch to the channel you want to make the default channel.
- Go to your advanced account settings.
- Under “Default Channel” check “Use this channel (channel name) when I sign in to my <email> account.”
- Click Save.
Why can’t I add a custom URL?
In the past, YouTube URLs were created by selecting a username, which was claimed on a first-come first-serve basis. Once a username was taken by a channel it could never be used again, even if the original channel was inactive or deleted. This system resulted in many channels not being able to have the URL they wanted and deserved.
With the new custom URL system, channels that meet the eligibility requirements will be able to claim a custom URL based on channel description, Google identity, associated website, and a few other factors. This is to ensure that channels can get a URL that is unique to the channel brand, consistent on YouTube, and shared across all of Google’s services.
Understand your channel URLs
Your channel can have multiple URLs that direct your audience to your channel homepage. These URLs can look quite different from one another but they all point your audience to the same place – your channel.
ID Based URL
Example: youtube.com/channel/UCUZHFZ9jIKrLroW8LcyJEQQ
This is the standard URL applied to all channels once created. It uses your unique channel ID (every channel has one).
Custom URL
Example: youtube.com/c/YouTubeCreators and youtube.com/YouTubeCreators
A custom URL provides a shorter, easy to remember URL that you can share with your audience. Custom URLs are assigned to qualifying channels and can be based on your current display name, your legacy username, or your linked and verified web domain.Not sure if you’ve been assigned a custom URL? You can check by visiting your advanced account settings. Learn more about qualifying for and claiming custom URLs.
Legacy Username
Example: youtube.com/user/partnersupport
Depending on when your channel was created, your channel may have a username. Even if your channel name has changed since you chose your username, you can still use this URL to direct to your channel. Unfortunately, existing usernames cannot be changed. Usernames are no longer required and they are not created for channels today.
