YouTube is the biggest video platform on the planet, delivering everything from music videos to birthday parties to breaking news around the world and updates on anything and everything you could ever want to know. Uploading your own videos to YouTube is an easy process, and you can do it right from your Android phone.
- How to upload a video
- Upload options
- How to adjust the length of a video upload
- How to add music to an upload
- How to add a filter to your upload
How to upload a video to YouTube
- Launch the YouTube app from your home screen or the app drawer.
- Tap on the camera icon in the top bar of the app.
- You need to give YouTube access to your phone's photos, camera and microphone so that it can see videos you've previously taken and take new videos directly in the app. Tap Allow access.
- Tap Allow to let YouTube access the videos on your phone.
- Tap Allow to let YouTube access the camera to record videos.
- Tap Allow to let YouTube access the microphone to record audio on your videos.
- Tap the video in the camera roll below the Record and Go Live options. You can tap Record if you want to film your YouTube video inside the YouTube app.
- Once your video is chosen, you'll be taken to the Details page. Tap your video preview to watch it.
- Give your video a Title.
- Tap the Send arrow to begin your upload.
You'll be taken to your Videos page, where you can watch your video upload and process through the progress bar that covers the video's thumbnail. If you want to stop an upload:
- Tap the three-dot menu button to the right of the video's title.
- Tap Delete upload.
- Tap Yes to confirm you want to delete the upload.
Upload options
The only things you need to upload a YouTube video are a video clip and a title, but there are a few more settings and options you can use when uploading a video on YouTube's Android app that you should know about.
- Description: This is the text that will be visible on your video's page beneath the playback window. You can use the description to give notes about the video and its content, to give links to websites or social media, or other information.
- Accounts: If you have multiple YouTube accounts on your device, you can tap your Account Name to open the Accounts list and change which account the video is uploaded to.
- Privacy Settings: This controls the visibility of the video to search and other users. By default YouTube video uploads are Public, visible and searchable to everyone. Unlisted videos are only visible to people through a link; they don't appear in search results on YouTube or Google. Private videos are only visible to you.
- Location: You can mark the location of your video so that the video is searchable by location and proximity. You can type in a street address, city, state, or country.
There are more advanced settings, such as picking a category for you video or age restrictions, but you'll have to hop over to YouTube's website to change those after your initial mobile upload.
How to adjust the length of your video
While it's easy to record a video for uploading to YouTube, you might want to adjust where the video starts or stops. YouTube makes this easy for you, allowing you to drag and drop where each video begins and ends on the Add Details page:
- Drag the white dots on the timeline to drag and drop to the length you want your video to be.
- Press and hold the white dots to zoom in for more precise clipping.
- Drag the highlighted box to move your selected length up and down a video track.
Once you have the video at the length you want it, continue editing its information or tap the Send arrow to start the upload.
How to add music to an upload
While uploading a video to YouTube can be a bare bones affair, but we still have a powerful way to punch up an uploaded video: add a soundtrack to it.
To add music to your video:
- On the Add Details page, tap the music notes in the top left corner of the playback window.
- Music is available in three tabs: Featured music, genres & moods, and on-device music. Tap the tab that you'd like to browse.
- In Genre & mood, tap the genre you'd like to preview.
- Tap the Play button on a music track to preview it.
- To select a music track, tap the plus button on that track.
- Drag the music track back and forth along the timeline to adjust the playback selection.
- Tap the levels icon to the right of the track.
- Adjust the slider back and forth to control how much of the original audio or music is heard.
- If you don't like the music you've chosen, tap the music notes in the top left corner of the playback window.
- Tap Remove to remove the music or tap Change to remove the music and go back to the music gallery and try again.
Once you have the music how you want it, continue editing its information or tap the Send arrow to start the upload.
How to add a filter to your YouTube upload
Not every video needs to look as realistic as possible, and with filters it's an easy process to go ahead and adjust the way that your video looks with as little effort as possible. You can pick from one of the filters YouTube has offered to immediately change the look of your video.
- On the Add Details page, tap the magic wand in the top left corner of the playback window.
- Drag the filter carousel left and right to scroll through the available filters.
- Tap a filter from the filter carousel that appears underneath the video preview to see how the filter will look.
- If none of the filters fit your video, tap Normal at the far left side of the filter carousel.
- Tap the magic wand again to hide the filter carousel when you're done.
Once you find a filter you like, continue editing its information or tap the Send arrow to start the upload.
Questions?
Let us know in the comments below!
Updated May 2018: We've updated this guide to reflect changes to YouTube's design and expanded our explanation of the settings available for mobile uploads.
