Can You See Who Liked Your YouTube Video?

On Instagram and Facebook, tapping the like count opens the names. On YouTube it opens nothing, even for the person who uploaded the video. Here is what YouTube keeps, what it shows you, and the few names you can actually see.

Updated September 2026

How do you see who liked your YouTube video?

You can't see individuals, but you can see the numbers. Here is where they live in YouTube Studio as of September 2026:

• Open YouTube Studio and go to Content.
• The list of videos includes a likes column with the like percentage, the share of likes among likes and dislikes, and the number of likes.
• Click a video, then Analytics, then the Engagement tab for likes over time and how engagement compares with your other uploads.
• In Advanced mode, the Likes (vs. dislikes) metric shows the like share by video, date range, country and other dimensions.

Can you see who likes your YouTube videos on mobile?

No. The YouTube Studio app shows the same aggregate numbers as the desktop version, a like count and dislike count per video, and no names. Tapping the like count in the regular YouTube app does nothing beyond registering your own like.

Who liked my YouTube video? The names you can find

Three places give you names, and none of them is a likes list.

Comments are the obvious one. Every comment shows the commenter's channel, and many people who comment have also liked the video. You can't confirm the overlap, but engaged commenters are your most likely likers.

Subscribers are the second. Studio lists recent subscribers on the dashboard and a longer list under the Audience tab, but only people whose subscriptions are set to public appear there; everyone else is counted without a name. How to see your YouTube subscribers explains why that list is always shorter than your subscriber count.

The third is live chat and paid messages during a live stream, which carry names. None of these tells you who pressed like on a particular upload.

Does YouTube notify you when someone likes your video?

No. YouTube sends creators notifications for comments and some other activity, but not a notification per like on a video. The only way to follow likes is the count in Studio.

What about likes on comments and posts?

Comment likes follow the same rule: the number of likes on a comment is public, the names behind it aren't. The one exception is the creator heart. When a channel owner hearts a comment, a small heart with the channel's picture appears on it publicly, and the commenter is notified. That's a like with a name attached, and it only runs one way, from the creator to a viewer. Text and image posts on a channel work like videos: a like count, no list of names.

Can you see who likes your YouTube videos with an app or extension?

No. YouTube's official tools for developers return the like count for a video, not the accounts behind it, so no third-party tool has a list to show you. Extensions and sites that claim to reveal likers are guessing, usually by showing commenters, or exist to collect a login. Never give your Google password to a tool that promises YouTube data; the numbers YouTube will share with you are already in Studio.

The same is true for views. YouTube doesn't identify who watched a video either, and who watched your YouTube video covers what Analytics does reveal about your audience as a group.

Are YouTube dislikes and likes public?

The like count is public: anyone can see it under the video. The dislike count stopped being public in November 2021, when YouTube removed it from the public view of every video. Creators still see dislikes in Studio. The identity of who liked or disliked is private in every case.

What viewers do see, in the second or two before they decide whether to watch, is the view count and the like count side by side. A video with a solid view count and very few likes reads as something people clicked and didn't enjoy. That's why the like count matters beyond vanity, and it's the number YouTube likes change. Adding them changes what a visitor reads under the video; it doesn't add people who watch to the end, it doesn't tell you anything about your audience, and it isn't an instruction YouTube's recommendations are obliged to follow.

Is the like ratio worth watching?

Yes, for your own analysis. A drop in the like share on one video compared with your usual range often points to a title or thumbnail that promised something the video didn't deliver. What is a good engagement rate on YouTube shows how likes fit into the wider engagement picture.

Why YouTube keeps likes anonymous

YouTube hasn't explained the design in one statement, but the effects are clear. An anonymous like costs the viewer nothing socially, so people press it more freely than they would if their name appeared on a public list. It also removes a harassment route: a creator can't single out, and a mob can't target, the specific people who liked a controversial video.

For creators, the practical takeaway is to ask for the action that does carry a name when you want to know your audience. Ask a question and invite comments. Comments are visible, countable and personal, and they're where the conversation with your viewers happens. Some channels start that conversation on a new upload with YouTube comments, and others add to the visible subscriber total with YouTube subscribers; both change what visitors see, not who is actually watching. For the full set of YouTube guides and services on this site, see the YouTube hub, and for a video's visible likes, YouTube likes.

Questions people ask about YouTube likes