YouTube guide
By
Elias Brandt
Elias Brandt writes about marketing, email and analytics tools for Appcyclopedia, working on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 and a Galaxy S25.
- Web
Short answer
Sign in to YouTube on a computer or the mobile site, click your profile picture, then Settings. Under Account, select Add or manage channel(s), then Create a channel. Choose a picture, a name and a handle, and click Create channel.
Decide on the name first: a personal channel uses your Google Account name. To publish under a business or brand name, create the channel from your channel list instead, which sets up a Brand Account.
Below: both kinds of channel, the handle rules, and the phone verification that lifts the 15-minute upload limit.
Personal channel or business channel: the steps for each
To create a YouTube channel, you need a Google Account and a few minutes in a browser. Pick one group of steps below: the first gives you a channel under your own name, the second a channel under any other name.
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A channel under your own name
Sign in to YouTube in a browser
Open youtube.com on a computer, or the mobile site in your phone’s browser, and sign in with your Google Account. The help pages describe channel creation in a browser, so start there rather than in the YouTube app.
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Open the channel settings
Click your profile picture at the top right, then Settings. Stay in the Account section and select Add or manage channel(s). A page opens listing any channels already linked to your account.
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Create the channel with your picture, name and handle
Click Create a channel. Choose a profile picture, check the name, and type a handle: the @name people use to find and mention you. Click Create channel. The channel page opens, ready for a first upload.
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A channel under a business or other name
Go to your channel list
Signed in on a computer or the mobile site, open your channel list from the same Add or manage channel(s) page. Here you can create a new channel or attach one to a Brand Account you already have.
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Create the new channel with the business name
Choose to create a new channel. Pick a profile picture, type the business or brand name and a handle, and click Create channel. YouTube creates a Brand Account for it, which can later have more than one manager.
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After either kind
Verify the account with your phone
A new channel can upload videos up to 15 minutes long. To go longer, add custom thumbnails or live stream, verify the account: YouTube sends a code by text or voice call to a phone number you enter. One number can verify 2 channels a year.
Say you bake cakes to order and want a channel for them. A channel named after the bakery, made through the second group, keeps your personal name off the page and lets a business partner manage it later without your password.
Choose the kind of channel by whose name should be on it, then pick a handle short enough to say out loud.
More about YouTube
Google’s video platform, for watching, uploading and live streaming.
Why YouTube may not let you create a channel
- There is no option to create a channel
Accounts using YouTube with a supervised experience may not be able to create a channel. Sign in with an adult account that is not supervised.
- The handle you want is refused
Handles must be 3 to 30 characters, unique, and must not look like a web address or a phone number. Periods, dashes and underscores are allowed inside the handle but not at the start or end.
- The channel shows your personal name and you wanted a brand
A personal channel uses your Google Account name. Create a second channel through the channel list, which makes a Brand Account with its own name.
- Uploads longer than 15 minutes fail
The account is not verified yet. Verify it with a phone number, then upload again.
Personal channel or Brand Account channel?
The two kinds of channel look the same to viewers. The difference is whose name is on it and who can run it.
| Personal channel | Brand Account channel | |
|---|---|---|
| Name shown | Your Google Account name | Any name you choose |
| Created from | Create a channel in settings | Your channel list |
| Managers | Only you | Several owners and managers can be added |
| Good for | Yourself, a hobby, comments under your name | A business, a group, a pen name |
A Brand Account is also the cleaner choice when someone else may take the channel over one day. Owners can be added and removed without anyone handing over a password.
If the channel is about something rather than about you, start it as a Brand Account.
How YouTube handles work
A handle is the @name that appears in links, comments and mentions, such as youtube.com/@yourname. It is separate from the channel name, so a channel called “Lisa’s Kitchen” can have the handle @lisabakes.
The rules, in short:
- Length: 3 to 30 characters in Latin script, fewer in scripts such as Han, Hangul, Hiragana and Katakana.
- Characters: letters and numbers, plus underscores, hyphens and periods, none of them at the start or end.
- Uniqueness: one handle per channel, and no two channels can share one. Handles are not case-sensitive.
- Refused outright: handles that look like a web address or a phone number, and anything offensive or spammy, which YouTube can take back.
If you do not choose one, YouTube may assign a handle based on the channel name, or a random one when that is not possible.
What a new channel can do on day one
A channel works as soon as it is created, but a few features wait for phone verification.
| Feature | New channel | Verified channel |
|---|---|---|
| Upload videos | Up to 15 minutes each | Longer than 15 minutes |
| Custom thumbnails | No | Yes |
| Live streaming | No | Yes |
| Appeal copyright claims | No | Yes |
Verification takes a minute. The only limit is that one phone number can verify 2 channels a year, which matters if you plan to run several.
What to do after creating a YouTube channel
Creating a channel is quick. The decisions that last are whose name it carries and which handle people will type, and both are easier to get right now than to change later.
Pick personal or Brand Account, choose a short handle, then verify the account before your first long upload. If you collect videos for the channel before publishing them, a private playlist keeps them out of public view.
Before you start a channel
- Is it free to create a YouTube channel?
- Yes. Any Google Account can create a channel at no cost. YouTube Premium is a viewing subscription and is not needed to upload.
- Can I change my channel name and handle later?
- Yes. Both are separate from each other and can be edited. The handle is changed in YouTube Studio or at youtube.com/handle.
- Can I have more than one YouTube channel?
- Yes. One Google Account can manage a personal channel and several Brand Account channels, each with its own name and handle.
- Do I need to verify my channel to upload?
- No. A new channel can upload straight away, up to 15 minutes per video. Verification unlocks longer videos, custom thumbnails and live streams.
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Test log
Followed the steps? Tell us how it went on your device. Entries appear here after we check them.
- Worked Every step, start to finish · Marta Kowalczyk Team
I tested this
Steps performed and confirmed 15 days ago
When you need this
If you want to upload a video, comment under a name of your choice or start a channel for a hobby or a small business, create a YouTube channel. Watching needs only a Google Account; posting needs a channel.
- Describes
- YouTube in a desktop browser and the mobile site · Personal Google Accounts
- Takes
- Five minutes, plus a text message for verification
- Platforms
- Web
- Published
- 9 October 2026
- Facts checked
- 7 October 2026
Steps repeated and verified by 
Marta Kowalczyk
on
- Marta Kowalczyk: the web steps on a MacBook Air (macOS 27.0.1).
Limits quoted here come from YouTube’s documentation and were not tested.
Sources: YouTube Help, Create a YouTube channelYouTube Help, Learn about YouTube handlesYouTube Help, Verify your YouTube account
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