StreamLive Pro

YouTube live visibility: public, unlisted or private

Choose who can watch your YouTube live from StreamLive Pro: public, unlisted or private, the once-per-channel choice with made for kids, and how to change it.

Updated November 5, 2026 · 4 min read

When StreamLive Pro creates your live event on YouTube, it sets who can watch it: public, unlisted or private. The first time you use a YouTube channel, StreamLive Pro asks you to choose this together with whether your content is made for kids, and saves the answer for that channel. Every later live and upload on that channel uses it until you change it. For one broadcast only, you can set a different choice in the channel's Edit window.

What each choice means on YouTube

Source: YouTube Help: Change video privacy settings, checked 5 November 2026. YouTube also requires you to say whether content is made for kids and makes that your legal responsibility (YouTube Help: Determining if your content is made for kids).

Before you start

• YouTube connected under Connections, with live streaming enabled on the channel. The first time, YouTube can take up to 24 hours to enable it. See How to go live on YouTube from your computer.
• The live goes through the YouTube connection. The visibility choice applies when StreamLive Pro creates the event, which it does for the signed-in YouTube channel. With a pasted YouTube stream key, you set visibility in YouTube Studio yourself.

Steps

1. Start a broadcast with YouTube ticked. On Live stream, tick your YouTube channel in the Channels list.
2. Choose once for the channel. When you go live for the first time on that channel, a window called YouTube settings for this channel opens. Choose who can watch and whether the content is made for kids, then press Continue. Nothing is chosen for you: the window waits until you pick both.
3. See the saved choice. From then on, the YouTube row shows one short line, for example "Public · Not made for kids", with a Change button that opens the full choice again.
4. For one broadcast only, use Edit. Click Edit on the YouTube row and set Privacy to Public, Unlisted or Private. That choice wins over the channel's saved choice for this broadcast.
5. In a scheduled broadcast. The schedule form (Schedule broadcast) shows the same choice for each YouTube channel. If you tick Pre-announce, YouTube shows the upcoming event with the visibility you chose, so an unlisted live is not announced publicly.
6. Go live. Press Start stream. The event is created on YouTube with that visibility.

Which choice wins

StreamLive Pro applies the first of these that exists: the Privacy you set in the channel's Edit window for this broadcast, then the choice saved for the YouTube channel, then the broadcast's own setting. Disconnecting the YouTube connection deletes its saved choice, so you are asked again after you reconnect.

Posts and Shorts follow a similar rule. An upload to YouTube from Publish uses the choice you make for that post, then the channel's saved choice. A video from Post to every network from a WhatsApp or Telegram group carries no choice of its own: it uses the channel's saved choice, and if there is none it goes up as Unlisted and not made for kids, never public, until you choose.

When to use unlisted or private

• A test broadcast. Go live unlisted, check the picture and sound on YouTube, end it, then go live public. Schedule a broadcast you will stream from OBS uses the same trick.
• A class or event for one group. Unlisted, and send the link to the group. Anyone who gets the link can watch, so it is not a secret.
• A recording for yourself. Private keeps the live off your channel. Remember that comments are not available on private videos.

What can go wrong

Frequently asked questions

Can I go live unlisted on YouTube from StreamLive Pro?

Yes. Choose Unlisted when StreamLive Pro asks the first time, or set Privacy to Unlisted in the YouTube channel's Edit window for one broadcast.

Does the choice apply to Facebook too?

No. This choice is YouTube's. Each network has its own audience settings.

Why does StreamLive Pro ask whether my content is made for kids?

YouTube requires every channel to say so and makes it the creator's legal responsibility, so StreamLive Pro asks you rather than choosing for you.

Can I change the visibility after the live ended?

Yes, in YouTube Studio. StreamLive Pro sets the visibility when it creates the event.

Do private lives show comments?

YouTube says comments are not available on private videos, so expect no comments on a private live.

Keep reading