You can apply for YouTube monetization, set up your payment account, and manage your revenue features entirely from your phone using the YouTube Studio app. The process starts with meeting subscriber and view thresholds, then moves through an application, AdSense setup, and enabling specific money-making features. Here’s how each step works.
Meet the Eligibility Thresholds
Before you can apply, your channel needs to hit one of two milestones for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP):
- Long-form path: 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months
- Shorts path: 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days
One important detail: watch hours from Shorts views in the Shorts Feed do not count toward the 4,000 watch-hour threshold. Those two paths are tracked separately. If you’re building your channel mostly through short vertical videos, you’ll need to qualify through the Shorts view count instead.
You can track your progress toward these thresholds inside the YouTube Studio app. Open the app, tap the Earn tab, and you’ll see a progress tracker showing how close you are. If you haven’t hit the numbers yet, tap “Get notified” so YouTube sends you an email the moment you qualify.
Apply Through the YouTube Studio App
Once you’ve crossed a threshold, open the YouTube Studio app on your phone and go to the Earn tab. You’ll see a prompt to start your YPP application. The process walks you through several steps: agreeing to the program terms, connecting a payment account (more on that below), and submitting your channel for review.
YouTube reviews your channel to confirm it follows community guidelines and monetization policies. Review times vary, but most creators hear back within a few days to a few weeks. You’ll get a notification in the app and an email with the decision. If your application is denied, YouTube will tell you why, and you can reapply after 30 days once you’ve addressed the issue.
Set Up AdSense for Payments
YouTube pays creators through AdSense for YouTube, and you must set this up as part of your application. The key rule: create your AdSense for YouTube account through YouTube Studio, not through the AdSense homepage directly. Starting from the AdSense site won’t link properly to your channel.
In the Earn tab of YouTube Studio, tap the AdSense sign-up card. You’ll be asked to re-enter your password, then choose which Google account to use for AdSense. From there, you’ll provide your contact information and physical mailing address, then submit.
After your AdSense account is approved and your channel starts earning, YouTube will mail a PIN verification card to your physical address once your balance reaches $10. You enter that PIN code into your AdSense account to confirm your address. Make sure the address you entered matches what your local post office recognizes, since this is a physical piece of mail. If you don’t complete PIN verification within four months, YouTube will pause your monetization, including features like channel memberships and Super Chat.
If you run into errors during the setup process on your phone’s browser, try clearing your browser cache and cookies, or switch to an incognito window to make sure no other Google accounts are interfering.
How Shorts Revenue Works
If you’re creating content on mobile, there’s a good chance Shorts are a big part of your strategy. The way Shorts revenue works is different from standard ad revenue on long-form videos.
Each month, YouTube pools all the ad revenue generated from ads that play between videos in the Shorts Feed. That pool gets split between creators and music licensors. If your Short doesn’t use any music, all the revenue tied to its views goes into the Creator Pool. If it does use music, YouTube divides the revenue between the Creator Pool and music partners based on how many tracks are in the video. Using two songs means a smaller share goes to the Creator Pool than using one.
From the Creator Pool, your payout is based on your share of total “engaged views” from monetizing creators’ Shorts in each country. YouTube keeps 55% and pays you 45% of your allocated revenue, regardless of whether you used music. That 45/55 split also applies to revenue from YouTube Premium members who watch your Shorts.
Not all views count. YouTube excludes views on Shorts that are unedited clips from movies or TV shows, reuploads of other creators’ content, compilations with nothing original added, views from bots, and views on content that doesn’t meet advertiser-friendly guidelines. To maximize your Shorts revenue, focus on original content that you created or meaningfully edited yourself.
To earn Shorts ad revenue, you need to accept the Shorts Monetization Module, which is part of the YPP terms you’ll agree to during your application.
Enable Revenue Features on Mobile
Once you’re accepted into YPP, the Earn tab in YouTube Studio becomes your control center. From your phone, you can toggle on several monetization features:
- Ad revenue: Ads on your long-form videos and Shorts. For long-form content, you earn a share of the ads that run before, during, or after your videos. For Shorts, you earn through the pooled revenue system described above.
- Channel memberships: Viewers pay a monthly fee for perks you define, like custom badges, emoji, or members-only content. You can set up and manage membership tiers from the app.
- Super Chat and Super Stickers: During live streams, viewers can pay to pin highlighted messages in the chat. This is especially useful if you go live from your phone.
- Super Thanks: Viewers can pay to post a highlighted comment on your regular uploaded videos, not just live streams.
- Shopping: If you sell products or want to tag items from your store, you can connect a shopping feature to your channel.
Each feature has its own toggle in the Earn section. Some features require additional eligibility beyond basic YPP membership, like a minimum subscriber count for channel memberships. YouTube Studio will show you which features are available to you and which ones you still need to unlock.
Managing Your Channel Entirely From Mobile
The YouTube Studio app handles nearly everything you need for day-to-day monetization management. You can check your estimated revenue, see which videos are earning the most, review your subscriber and watch-hour stats, and respond to comments, all from your phone. Revenue reports update daily, though final earnings for a given month aren’t confirmed until the following month.
Uploading and publishing videos directly from your phone is straightforward too. You can film, edit with YouTube’s built-in tools or a third-party mobile editor, add titles and descriptions, and publish without ever touching a computer. For Shorts specifically, the entire workflow from recording to posting is designed around the mobile experience.
One thing to keep in mind: some advanced account settings, like detailed AdSense payment configurations or tax information forms, may be easier to complete in a desktop browser. You can still access them on mobile through your phone’s web browser if needed, but the interface is more cramped. Handle those one-time setup tasks on a larger screen if you have access to one, then manage everything else day to day from the app.