How to Access YouTube Shorts

Finding YouTube Shorts can sometimes feel like a treasure hunt if you don't know where to look. One moment you're scrolling through an endless feed of vertical videos, and the next you can't figure out how to get back. This guide cuts through the confusion and shows you every way to find, watch, and engage with YouTube Shorts, whether you're using your phone or a computer.

What Exactly Are YouTube Shorts?

Before we get into finding them, let's have a quick refresher. YouTube Shorts are YouTube's answer to the short-form video boom popularized by TikTok and Instagram Reels. They are vertical videos that must be 60 seconds or less in length. For viewers, they offer bite-sized entertainment that's easy to swipe through. For creators, they are a powerful tool for reaching new audiences, driving channel growth, and experimenting with content that doesn't fit a long-form video format.

Think of them as a separate, faster-paced ecosystem within YouTube. While your main YouTube feed might be full of 10-minute tutorials or 30-minute deep dives, the Shorts feed is all about quick hits of information, humor, or inspiration. Understanding how to navigate this ecosystem is valuable for casual viewers and essential for any creator or marketer looking to build a brand on the platform.

How to Access Shorts on the YouTube Mobile App

The YouTube mobile app (for both iOS and Android) is where Shorts feel most at home. It was designed from the ground up for a mobile, vertical viewing experience. Here are all the ways you can find Shorts on your phone.

1. The Dedicated "Shorts" Tab

This is the most direct way to dive into the world of Shorts. At the bottom of your YouTube app screen, you'll see a navigation bar with several icons. In the center, there is a "Shorts" button (it looks like the Shorts logo).

• What it does: Tapping this button launches you directly into the Shorts player, an endless, algorithmically curated feed of videos.
• How to use it: Just swipe up to move from one video to the next. The feed learns what you like based on the videos you watch, like, and skip, so it becomes more personalized over time. This is YouTube's core "discovery" engine for short-form content.

2. The "Shorts" Shelf on the Home Tab

When you first open the YouTube app, you land on the "Home" tab. As you scroll down past the recommended long-form videos, you will almost always find a horizontal section dedicated to Shorts, simply titled "Shorts" with the logo next to it.

• What it is: This "shelf" is a collection of several Shorts that YouTube's algorithm thinks you'll enjoy. It acts as an entry point into the main Shorts feed.
• How to interact: You can swipe left or right within the shelf to see a few different Shorts. Tapping on any one of them will open it in the full-screen Shorts player, and from there, you can start swiping up for the endless feed.

3. On Creator Channel Pages

If you're a fan of a specific creator and want to see just their short-form content, this is the way to do it. Every channel that uploads Shorts has a dedicated section for them.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Navigate to the YouTube channel of your choice. You can do this by searching for their name or tapping their channel icon on a video.
2. Once on their channel homepage, look at the menu below their channel name and subscriber count (options usually include Home, Videos, Shorts, Live, Playlists, etc.).
3. Tap on the "Shorts" tab. This will display a grid of all the Shorts that creator has ever published, separate from their long-form content.

This is incredibly useful for binge-watching Shorts from one person or brand without having their longer videos mixed in.

4. Within Your Subscriptions Feed

You don't have to search for Shorts from your favorite creators, they will also appear in your regular Subscriptions feed. As you scroll through the latest uploads from channels you follow, you'll see Shorts mixed in with long-form videos. They are easy to spot thanks to their vertical format and the Shorts icon on the thumbnail. You can tap to watch them directly from the feed.

5. Through YouTube Search

Finally, you can find Shorts just by searching. When you search for a topic, YouTube's results will include long-form videos, playlists, channels, and a dedicated "Shorts" section with relevant short-form content. You can often spot them easily because of their vertical format and the small Shorts icon overlaid on the thumbnail.

Pro Tip: If you specifically want to find Shorts on a certain topic, try adding "#shorts" to your search query (e.g., "easy dinner recipes #shorts"). This helps tell the search algorithm you're looking for that specific format.

How to Access Shorts on a Desktop Browser

While the Shorts experience is optimized for mobile, you can absolutely watch them on your computer. The interface is slightly different, but the content is the same. Viewers use up and down arrow keys to navigate the vertical Shorts format and watch the latest content.

1. The Menu on the Left

This is the desktop equivalent of the Shorts tab on mobile. On the YouTube homepage, look at the main navigation menu on the left side of your screen. You'll see links for Home, Trending, Subscriptions, and right there among them, a link for "Shorts." Clicking this will take you to the desktop Shorts player.

The desktop player looks different, presenting the short-form videos in a focused view with like, dislike, comment, and share buttons on the right. You can use your mouse to click the arrows on the screen or simply use your keyboard's up and down arrow keys to scroll through the feed.

2. The Homepage Shelf

Just like on mobile, the desktop homepage will feature at least one "Shorts" shelf. You can scroll through a few videos horizontally or click on one to open the full Shorts player and start navigating vertically from there. This offers a quick and convenient way to experience a creator’s content right from the YouTube homepage without being restricted to long-form video only.

3. Creator Channel Pages (Desktop Version)

The process is identical to the mobile app. Navigate to a creator's channel page on your browser. Below their banner, you'll find the same menu: Home, Videos, Shorts, Live, etc. Click the "Shorts" tab to see all their short-form content organized in one place.

A Guide for Creators: Finding and Analyzing Shorts Performance

If you're a creator or marketer, you're not just interested in watching Shorts - you need to understand how they perform. Knowing how to access your analytics is just as important as knowing how to find the feed itself.

Finding Inspiration and Trends

By regularly browsing the Shorts feed using the methods above, you can perform valuable market research. Pay attention to:

• Popular Audio: What songs or sounds are being used repeatedly in your niche? Using trending audio can give your Short an immediate visibility boost.
• Common Formats: Are people in your industry doing a lot of "day in the life" Shorts, quick tips, or "before and after" reveals? Seeing what resonates with viewers can inspire your own content calendar.
• Comment Sections: The comments on popular Shorts are a goldmine of information about what your target audience is thinking, questioning, or joking about.

Accessing Your Shorts Analytics in YouTube Studio

Once you've started publishing Shorts, you need to track what's working. You can do this in your YouTube Studio analytics.

1. Go to YouTube Studio (studio.youtube.com).
2. In the left-hand menu, click on "Analytics."
3. Click on the "Content" tab at the top of the Analytics page.
4. Here, you can filter your content by format. You'll see buttons for "All," "Videos," "Shorts," and "Live." Click on "Shorts."

This will show you data exclusively for your short-form content. Here are the key metrics to watch:

• Views: The total number of times your Shorts have been viewed.
• Likes: A strong indicator of immediate engagement.
• Subscribers: A critical metric. This shows you how many new subscribers you gained directly from your Shorts. It's one of the format's greatest strengths.
• Audience Retention: This is a big one. For Shorts, you'll see a graph showing the percentage of people who "Viewed" versus those who "Swiped away." A high "Viewed" percentage is a great sign that you're hooking your audience effectively.
• Traffic Sources: Look for the "Shorts feed" traffic source. A high percentage here means your Short is being picked up by the algorithm and shown to people who don't already subscribe to you. This is the key to massive growth.

Final Thoughts

Whether you're looking for a quick dose of entertainment or you're a creator analyzing the competition, knowing the different ways to access YouTube Shorts is a must. The primary methods are the dedicated Shorts tab and homepage shelf on both mobile and desktop, though digging into individual channel pages and the search function can help you find exactly what you're looking for.

For creators managing a content strategy across multiple platforms, keeping track of your YouTube Shorts alongside Reels and TikToks can feel like a juggling act. When we built Postbase, we designed it from the ground up for modern short-form video. That means planning out your Shorts in the same visual calendar you use for all your other content, scheduling them reliably, and seeing how they fit into your brand’s big picture without losing your mind switching between tabs and tools.