YouTube Is Adding Group Chats So You Stop Sending Its Videos to iMessage

Think about the last YouTube video you sent a friend. You probably copied the link, dropped it into a group thread in iMessage or WhatsApp, and the conversation about it happened somewhere YouTube couldn't see. YouTube wants that conversation back, and this fall it's adding group chats to its in-app messaging to get it.

YouTube announced the change at Made on YouTube on Wednesday. Group chats build on the one-on-one DMs it has been rolling out over the past year, and they're coming this fall in the US, UK, Singapore, Brazil, and some European countries. TechCrunch reports you'll also be able to record quick, unpolished videos and share them in those chats. YouTube's own promo mockup has two lines worth reading before you add your cousins: messages may be reviewed for safety and Community Guidelines, and anyone added to a group can see the full chat history.

YouTube already tried this once

This is YouTube's second attempt at messaging. It launched Messages in 2017 and shut it down in September 2019, saying it would focus on public conversation in comments, posts, and Stories. Six years later it changed its mind. A test for adults in Ireland and Poland started in November 2025, and one-on-one sharing and messaging reached the US in June 2026, still limited to users 18 and older.

The reason for the reversal is sitting in your other apps. TikTok and Instagram both have group chats in their DMs, so a video shared there stays inside the app that served it, one tap from the next video. When you paste a YouTube link into WhatsApp, YouTube gets the click, while the replies, the link your friend sends back, and any sense of which videos your group passes around all stay in WhatsApp. YouTube says message content isn't used for ad targeting, but it hasn't said whether shares will feed recommendations or show up in creator analytics. The weak spot is the group chat you already have. It lives somewhere else, and people rarely move one because an app asked.

GIFs in the comments, and comments from the couch

Also this fall, the comment box in the mobile app gets a searchable GIF library, for both regular videos and Shorts. YouTube didn't say who supplies the GIFs. Google owns Tenor, which makes it the obvious guess, but YouTube hasn't confirmed it.

The TV feature is the odder one. You'll be able to leave a comment by speaking into your remote's microphone, and you can edit it afterward. YouTube says those recordings won't be used to train Google's AI models. Kurt Wilms, senior director of product management for YouTube on TV, told TheWrap he doubted it would work until he tried it: "When you try it, it's absolutely magical." YouTube's post says viewers "can now" comment from the big screen but gives no rollout details, and you'll need a remote with a microphone. If you'd rather type, TV companion mode already lets you comment from your phone while you're signed into the same account on both.

Group chats are the feature to watch this fall. If your friends start sending you YouTube invites instead of links, the plan worked.