ExpressBasics: How to create your own custom YouTube handle and URL

YouTube introduced its new handles feature earlier this year, bringing unique usernames for creators in batches. These unique handles can then be easy to find and tag in comments.
YouTube has been rolling out the feature in batches since last month, so chances are you may have already received an email on your channel-associated Gmail ID alerting of the feature becoming available to you.

If you haven’t, you must still wait for YouTube to send you the mail, but if you have, here’s how to quickly and easily create a channel handle for yourself.
Finding the YouTube mail
Go to your Gmail inbox on a smartphone or browser and make sure this is the same email that is linked to the channel you want to set a handle for.
Search your inbox for ‘YouTube’. You should quickly find all the emails received directly from YouTube here in one spot. Look for a mail with the subject ‘You can now choose your YouTube handle’. This mail indicates that the feature has been made available to you and the body should also contain a link that’ll quickly take you to handle the creation page.
Creating your own handle
YouTube may assign a handle to you default, but a ‘change handle’ button below that can quickly take you to an editing page where you can quickly add your new, desired handle and check if it is available. If it is, you can save your changes and your new handle is set. Users also now get a custom URL for their channel which is youtube.com/@(your handle).

To change your handle again in the future, you can follow the same steps again, but remember that the possibility of a fresh handle being vacant will be subject to availability.