How to follow a YouTube channel by RSS

Every public YouTube channel has an RSS feed, even though YouTube doesn't show the link anywhere. Following a channel by RSS puts its new videos in the same list as your news, without relying on YouTube's home-page algorithm or a phone notification.

In MediaHeat / Reader: paste the link

  1. Open Manage feeds and choose to add a feed.
  2. Paste the channel's address or a link to any of its videos.
  3. Reader finds the channel and creates the feed. Pick a folder if you like, and confirm.

These formats work:

  • the @ address: youtube.com/@channelname, with or without /videos, /shorts or /streams at the end;
  • the older addresses: youtube.com/channel/UC…, youtube.com/c/… and youtube.com/user/…;
  • a video link: youtube.com/watch?v=…, youtu.be/…, youtube.com/shorts/… or youtube.com/live/…. Reader follows the channel that published the video, not just that one video.

How videos show up

Each new video arrives as a story, with its thumbnail, title and description, next to your other sources. To watch, open the original link: the video plays on YouTube. You can put several channels in one folder, or mix channels and sites in a keyword smart folder.

A channel counts as one feed toward your plan's limit: up to 20 on Free and 200 on Premium.

When it doesn't work

  • "Paste the address of a public YouTube channel": the channel is private, was removed, or the address has a typo.
  • "Check the link or choose another public YouTube video": the video is private or was removed, and Reader can't reach the channel through it. Use the channel's address.
  • "YouTube did not respond": try again in a few minutes.

In another RSS reader

A channel's feed address always follows the same pattern: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id= followed by the channel ID, which starts with UC and is 24 characters long. If your reader won't take the channel link directly, that's the address it wants.