Fun with YouTube

By Jennifer Kerr

YouTube is owned by Google. The app is available for iPhone, iPad, also Apple TV, iMessages, and you can also watch on computer (youtube.com).

The app is free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Premium so you get no ads for $15.99 a month. I don’t do that as I think that’s a bit much. But the ads are getting more annoying, formerly one per video, now two and sometimes three per video. But you can usually skip parts of the ads.

There is potentially a lot of data linked to you. Most of that is related to upgrading to Premium. It suggests in the app store that you can Subscribe to channels, but they don’t really ever say you need a gmail account to do that. But it seems you do. I have had a gmail account for many years so it hasn’t been an issue for me. You could just create a gmail account and use it if you want to Subscribe to channels or save videos to Favorites and Watch Later in the Library. 

YouTube can be a lot of fun. There are a lot of interesting and entertaining things there. But of course there’s lots of trash, too! If you watch a lot of YT, which I do, you will find It gets to know you and gives you viewing suggestions based on what you’ve watched. YT is also a great source for videos to use if you are doing a presentation for Renaissance or anyone else, either on Zoom or in a classroom-type situation. You can get videos showing you how to do household tasks and jobs. And it’s fun to send amusing or interesting YTs to your friends and family. It’s easy to do in Mail or Messages.

The app is the red rectangle with the “play” arrow in the center. On the Home Page, notice at the top there are four things. At left it wants you to play YT on other devices, like your Apple TV.  Next it wants to you turn on notifications (optional). Next is the important Search icon. On the right is your account.

At the bottom are navigations. At left is the home page, next a link to what they consider cut shorts, next is the plus with some advanced options (ignore that). Next are Subscription and on the right is the Library. 

I’m going to tell you how to save individual videos to either the Watch Later or Favorites parts of the Library. And I’m going to tell you how to find and subscribe to five channels, the PBS NewsHour, two Renaissance channels and two Apple channels. 

First use the Search symbol to look for anything. You can just tap on it and it will play. On a phone, it will automatically turn sideways for best viewing (make sure you don’t have the lock screen on in the Control Center). Keep it vertical and look at your choices right under the video. You can share it (email or text it to someone). The download option invites you to get a free trial for a $15.99 membership. To the right is Save. Tap easy and it will automatically go to the Watch Later list. Tap hard and you get the option to two lists, Watch Later or Favorites. They are not really different. But either one is a good place to save a video you want to watch later or keep for some time. You can find things you save in Watch Later or Favorites in the Library (bottom right icon).

Also right below the video it says in red Subscribe and gives the name of the Channel on the left. There are lots and lots of channels, many with thousands or millions of subscribers.

On iPhone or iPad, to get back to the home page, click  in the upper left of the video on the tiny V. Back on the home page you can get rid of a video you just played by clicking on the X.

So I am now going to tell you how to subscribe. First will be the PBS Newshour channel. This is a really good way to watch the Newshour. You can watch it at any time each day after about 3  or 4 p.m. You don’t have to wait for a fixed time on a regular PBS TV channel. And the PBS app for Apple TV or also your devices is REALLY slow in loading the NewsHour.

Next are the two Renaissance channels. First is the Forum channel, which has the recordings of all Forums since fall of 2020 (search for Renaissance Society Forums). The second is the Renaissance Café channel, which has a whole bunch of really interesting one-time Zoom recordings from the past year. 

Next there are two useful Apple channels, Apple and Apple support.

For any of those, do a search (loupe symbol in top right) for them. Then click on their names that come up and then click on the red Subscribe. If you wish to be notified of new videos in your channels, click on the bell icon near the word Subscribed for each channel.

You can delete these channels, as well as the Watch Later and Favorites at any time. For Watch Later and Favorites in the Library, just swipe to the left and you’ll see Remove in red. For the channels (aka subscriptions), just tap on the gray word Subscribed at the top left of the channel.