Google is tired of you copying YouTube links just to paste them into separate texting apps. The company has just launched an in-app direct messaging feature in YouTube, allowing adult users to share videos and chat without leaving the app.
The update brings a dedicated “Messages” tab and icon directly into the top right corner of the YouTube app. This allows users to chat in real time, send direct messages, and swap standard videos, Shorts, or live streams without ever closing the application.
“Our community loves to share videos with their friends and family, and we want them to be able to do it in one place,” the company stated in a blog post detailing the rollout. “Whether it’s a new music video, a helpful tutorial, or a funny Short, this update will give users a new way to share right where they’re watching.”
If this concept sounds incredibly familiar, that is because YouTube has tried this exact experiment before. The platform originally launched an in-app messaging service back in 2017 but abruptly killed the project in September 2019. At the time, management claimed they wanted to discontinue private messaging to refocus their engineering efforts on improving public conversations, such as comments, community posts, and stories.
However, after starting a quiet trial in Ireland and Poland late last year, YouTube executives noted that private sharing remained a top feature request among core users.
To start a conversation with a friend, you must tap the share button on a video and generate a unique invite link. You then send this link to your contact through a traditional third-party app like WhatsApp, iMessage, or email.
Once your friend clicks the link, they can choose to accept the invitation or decline it. For security, these invite links automatically expire after seven days. Once a connection is established, both users can text back and forth freely and even share unlisted video links. However, the platform still blocks the sharing of private videos through the chat system.
Users can also unsend messages by long-pressing on text bubbles, block specific contacts entirely, and report conversations that violate platform rules.
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