When you publish a video to YouTube, most of the time you'll probably want to mark it as Public, so anyone can see it. But you can also choose to make a video Unlisted, so you need to know the URL to find it, or Private, so only you can see it.
But even private videos can be shared — it's just as little harder to do.
In order to share a private video, you need to go to YouTube Studio in a web browser (you can't do this using the mobile app) and choose to share the video with specific users via their email address.
Only the people you share the video with can see it, so even if they forward the link to someone else, it won't work.
How to share a private YouTube video
1. Open YouTube in a web browser.
2. Click your avatar at the top right of the screen and then click "YouTube Studio" in the drop-down menu.
3. In the pane on the left side of the screen, click "Videos."
4. In the list of videos, find the one you want to share and then click its title to switch to the editor.
5. You'll be brought to a page filled with options. First of all, make sure that the video is actually private. You can see this by looking at the small "Visibility" tab on the right side of the screen, just below the preview window for your video.
If it says "Public" or "Unlisted," your video isn't private. Click the Visibility tab and select "Private," and then click "Done." Once you've done this, save your changes by clicking "Save" at the top of the screen.
6. Next to the Save button are three dots. Click them, and in the menu that opens, select "Share privately."
A new tab will open, and a "Share with others" pop-up will appear. In this pop-up, enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the video with, and then click "Save and go back to YouTube Studio."
In the "Share with others" window, there's an option selected by default that will send a message to any email address you enter, to notify them that the video has been shared with them. You can uncheck it, but then it will be harder for those people to find the video.
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