Handles are a way for you to find and connect with creators on YouTube. Handles are unique and short channel identifiers distinct from channel names, and they start with the “@” symbol. For example, @youtubecreators.
All channels will have an associated handle that can be used to find and interact with other users– both creators and viewers. Your handle will also automatically become the new YouTube URL for your channel that will make it easy for people to discover you. For example, youtube.com/@youtubecreators. You can use this URL to direct people to your channel when they’re not on YouTube. Each channel can only have one handle.
You’ll see handles in places like comments, mentions, and in Shorts. Your handle will show in more places over time. You can also use your handle outside of YouTube to promote your channel.
Handle naming guidelines
Your handle must follow these guidelines:
- Is between 3-30 characters (see exceptions below)
- Uses alphabet letters or numbers from one of our 75 supported languages
- Your handle can also include: underscores (_), hyphens (-), periods (.), Latin middle dots (·).
- Mixed scripts are only allowed in certain circumstances. Left-to-right scripts cannot be mixed with right-to-left scripts in a single handle except when numbers are added to the end of the handle.
- Is not URL-like or phone number-like
- Is not already being used
- Follows YouTube's Community Guidelines
- Han/Hangul: 1-10 characters
- Ethiopic/Hiragana/Katakana: 2-20 characters
- Mixed script handles may have different minimum and maximum limits
Best practices for choosing a handle
Select a handle that best represents your public identity on YouTube. Note that handles aren’t case-sensitive.
We don’t allow:
- Violent, offensive, sexualized, or spammy handles
- The sale and transfer of handles
If your handle is found to violate our Community Guidelines, YouTube will revoke the handle and generate a new one for your channel.
Considerations when choosing handles in some languages
If your handle includes characters other than the letters A-Z, numbers 0-9, or separators [_-.], there are 2 potential considerations:
- People searching for you: People may not be able to easily type your handle to search for you if they do not have the relevant keyboard for your handle.
- Sharing links on apps and websites outside of YouTube: Some apps and websites outside of YouTube may not properly display or support your youtube.com/@myHandle link, making it appear broken or preventing it from directing to your channel page. This is because internationalization is not uniformly supported across apps and websites on the internet. These issues can occur with both typed links and copied links from the YouTube app or website.
Hide your handle
If you want to hide your handle, you can delete or hide your channel.
Search using handles
Viewers and creators can search for your channel directly on YouTube using the @ symbol followed by your handle. Handles can be copied on the channel page or profile card.
Share using a handle URL
A handle URL is a YouTube URL that includes an @ symbol followed by a channel’s handle. You can share a channel page using the handle URL by:
- Clicking or tapping Share
.
Or
- Copying and pasting the URL directly from your browser's address bar.
- The handle URL will be copied from the browser in an encoded form in accordance with internet standards. The encoding ensures the URL will work correctly.
- Example of encoded URL:
https://www.youtube.com/c/Handle%EC%A7%81%ED%95%A8.
- Example of encoded URL:
- When sharing to external apps using Share
- Example of channel ID URL:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0L1uV8pgO4pCAIBNGxxy5w.
- Example of channel ID URL:
View or change handle
YouTube Studio app for iPhone & iPad
- Open the YouTube Studio app
.
- Tap your profile picture
.
- Tap Edit
.
- Under the “Handle” section, find your handle.
- To change your handle, tap Edit
- Click Save
to confirm your handle.
YouTube iPhone & iPad app
- Open the YouTube app
.
- Tap your profile picture
- Tap View Channel.
- Tap Edit
- Under the "Handle" section, find your handle.
- To change your handle, tap Edit
- Click Save
If your preferred handle isn’t available, it’s usually because:
- Another channel already selected that handle.
Or
- It didn’t meet our handle naming guidelines.
| Languages Supported |
Afrikaans |
Lithuanian Macedonian Malayalam Malay Marathi Mongolian Nepali Norwegian Odia Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian (Latin) Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Spanish Spanish (Latin America) Swedish Swahili Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Zulu |