Find your way around YouTube

Signed in? How you navigate YouTube depends on if you are signed in. On a phone or tablet, you'll know you’re signed in by tapping Account

. If you're on a computer, look at the top right of your YouTube screen. If you’re signed in, you’ll see your name or username, and if you’re not, you’ll see the prompt to Sign in. This article covers the signed in experience.

If you're new to YouTube or haven't signed in, the homepage will display the most popular videos and highlights from categories like Music, Sports, and Gaming.

Once you've signed in, the navigation bar at the top of every YouTube page allows you to easily find the content you care about. Search results may be influenced by your preferences and activity on YouTube.

If you aren't able to follow these instructions, you are likely using the old version of YouTube. If you're using a newer browser, update to the current version of YouTube.

Guide

Open the Guide to access Home, Trending, Subscriptions, history, videos you've saved to watch later, YouTube Red and YouTube movies (if applicable), and account settings.

Home

Home highlights videos recommended for you from your subscriptions and watch history. Video recommendations are influenced by your preferences and activity on YouTube.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions allows you to view recent uploads from your subscriptions.

Watch later

Watch later is the list of videos you've selected by clicking on the Watch Later icon.

Purchases

Purchases takes you to a page with your paid channel subscriptions, movie purchases or rentals, and live event purchases. Learn more about paid content on YouTube.

Channel icon

Open the channel icon at the top of the page to access your channel, the Creator Studio, and Help, or switch to Dark Mode. You can also switch between channels and sign out.

The Creator Studio includes your Dashboard, Video Manager, Analytics, and more.