How to Watch YouTube Shorts on a TV

YouTube Shorts live in a vertical, swipe-up feed designed for your thumb. On a TV that format is awkward, and the YouTube app does not give you a clean way to line up a handful of Shorts and play just those.

Here is how to get the Shorts you want onto the big screen without wrestling with the TV app.

The trouble with watching Shorts on a TV

The YouTube TV app treats Shorts inconsistently, and you are still inside an endless feed. You cannot easily say "play these five Shorts my friend sent and nothing else." Mirroring your phone works but shows your whole screen and ties up the device.

Collect, then cast

The reliable approach is to gather the Shorts you care about into a queue first, then cast that queue. SofaScroll does this across platforms:

• Share each Short. In YouTube, tap Share, then SofaScroll. The Short joins your queue with its title and thumbnail.
• Cast the queue. Open SofaScroll, tap Cast, and choose your Chromecast or smart TV.
• Lean back. The Shorts play one after another in a framed player, and you control it from your phone.

Mix Shorts with everything else

Most people do not only watch Shorts. They also get TikToks and Reels. Because SofaScroll pulls from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, and Facebook into one queue, your TV session can include all of them without app switching.

Watch together, keep the best

Shorts are more fun on a TV with other people. Share a room so everyone adds Shorts to the same queue, then save the standouts to a vault so the good ones are easy to replay later.

Summary

You do not need a perfect YouTube TV experience. Collect the Shorts you want in a queue, cast it, and enjoy them on the big screen the way streaming should feel.