How to Make YouTube Music Playlist Private

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Grace
December 12, 2024

Playlists are a great way to organize your music and tailor it to specific moods or activities. They’re also a fantastic tool for sharing your musical tastes with friends, family, and a wider audience, especially on a global platform like YouTube. YouTube Music, integrated with YouTube, offers three privacy levels for your playlists. By making a playlist Public, you can share it with the world. If you want to keep your playlist hidden from public search and your profile, follow these steps to make it Private or Unlisted.

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Privacy Settings of YouTube Music Playlists

YouTube Music offers three main privacy settings: Public, Unlisted, and Private. These settings allow you to control who can access your playlists, ensuring your musical journey remains as private or public as you desire.

Find Privacy Settings of a YouTube Music Playlist

To see a playlist’s privacy setting, go to your Library on YouTube Music. Select the playlist, and its privacy level (Public, Unlisted, or Private) will be shown below the playlist name. This method works for both the mobile app and web player.

see privacy settings

Public vs. Unlisted vs. Private

  1. Public:
    • Anyone can find and view your playlist.
    • It can be shared via link.
    • It will appear in search results and on your YouTube Music profile.
  2. Unlisted:
    • Only people with the direct link to your playlist can view it.
    • It can be shared via link.
    • It won’t appear in search results or on your profile.
  3. Private:
    • Only you can view the playlist.
    • It cannot be shared.
    • It’s hidden from search results and your profile.
private playlist cannot be shared

Let’s compare the privacy levels of these three settings in a table.

FeaturePublicUnlistedPrivate
Share URLYesYesNo
Add to YouTube channel sectionYesYesNo
Show on YouTube Music profileYesNoNo
Shows up in search, related, and recommendationsYesNoNo
Post on your channelYesNoNo
Show in Subscriber feedYesNoNo

How to Create a Private Playlist on YouTube Music

By default, new YouTube Music playlists are set to Public, meaning anyone can find and view them. To maintain privacy, you’ll need to manually adjust the settings to Private or Unlisted.

On Mobile

  1. Go to “Library” from the bottom of the YouTube Music app and tap “+ New.”
  2. Select “Playlist.”
  3. Enter the palylist title and description (optional). Tap “Public” under Privacy.
  4. Choose Private and tap the “Create” button.
create a private playlist mobile

On Web Player

  1. Log into your account at music.youtube.com.
  2. Tap “+ New playlist” from the left menu bar.
  3. Give your new playlist a title. You can also add a brief description (optional).
  4. Click “Public” under Privacy and select “Private.”
  5. Click the “Create” button.
create a private playlist desktop

How to Make an Existing YouTube Music Playlist Private

If you want to hide your YouTube Music playlist from public view or just need to keep it to yourself, here’s how to make a YouTube Music playlist private on both mobile and desktop:

On Mobile

  1. Open the YouTube Music app and go to your Library.
  2. Choose a Public or Unlisted playlist you want to change.
  3. Tap the Edit icon (the pencil icon) under the playlist details.
  4. Tap “Public” or “Unlisted” under privacy.
  5. Select “Private” from the options.
make a public playlist private mobile

On Web Player

  1. Visit music.youtube.com and sign in.
  2. Select a Public or Unlisted playlist from your Library.
  3. Click the Edit icon (the pencil icon) under the playlist details.
edit a public playlist

  1. Select the Privacy settings (public or unlisted) and change it to “Private.”
change to a private playlist

Remember, once your playlist is private, only you will be able to view and listen to it.

Downloading YouTube Music Playlists for Ultimate Privacy

Want to take control of your music library and ensure ultimate privacy? Downloading your YouTube Music playlists as MP3 files is the way to go. This method allows you to enjoy your favorite tunes offline, without relying on an internet connection or public streaming services.

To simplify this process, we recommend using Pazu YouTube Music Converter. This powerful tool is designed to download songs, albums, and playlists from YouTube Music, whether you’re a free or Premium user. Plus, its built-in YouTube Music web player makes it easy to search and download your favorite tracks in high-quality MP3 format.

Once downloaded, you can transfer and play your music on any device, ensuring complete privacy and control. Let’s take a look at the detailed steps.

1. Run Pazu YouTube Music Converter 

To get started, download, install and run Pazu YouTube Music Converter on your Mac or Windows, which features a built-in YouTube Music web player.

After the installation is complete, launch the Pazu YouTube Music Converter on your computer. If you have already purchased a license, click the key icon to register the converter. If not, continue using the trial version.

YouTube Music Converter

You can sign in to your YouTube Music account to access your playlists.

2. Customize the Output Settings

Click on the “Setting” icon in the upper right corner to open the Setting window in which you can customize the output format, output quality, output folder, file name format, how output songs are organized, interface language, etc.

download settings

3. Add songs

Browse or search to find the songs, albums, or playlists you want to download. Click the album or playlist you want to download. Then click the red icon to load songs. 

choose YouTube Music playlists

All songs in the playlist/album will be selected by default. You can uncheck the songs you don’t want to get.

choose YouTube Music songs

4. Download Music from YouTube Music

Click on the “Convert” icon and the program starts to convert YouTube Music songs.

convert YouTube Music to MP3

After the converting is complete, click on the “clock” icon in the upper right corner to find the converted YouTube Music songs from the local directory.

YouTube Music to MP3 converter

YouTube Music Converter

YouTube Music Converter

Download and convert YouTube Music to MP3, M4A, etc