No Shorts camera on iPad or tablet? Record elsewhere, then upload

If the Shorts camera is missing on your tablet, that is expected: YouTube's Android help page says the Shorts camera is unavailable on tablets currently and asks for the latest YouTube app on a smartphone. You can still publish a Short from any device by uploading a finished video that is square or vertical and up to 3 minutes long, from YouTube Studio on a computer.

Everything about YouTube here is from Create YouTube Shorts, Get started creating YouTube Shorts and Upload YouTube Shorts, read on 2026-10-02.

Is the Shorts camera really phone-only?

The Create YouTube Shorts page lists a device requirement: the Shorts camera is unavailable on tablets currently, and you need the latest YouTube app on a smartphone. The Get started page describes recording as needing just a smartphone. Neither page gives a date for tablet support, so treat it as a current limit rather than a promise.

The camera is also only one of two routes. YouTube lists recording with the Shorts camera and uploading vertical videos saved to your computer or phone as the two ways to create a Short.

How do you upload a Short from a computer?

The computer steps on YouTube's upload page are short:

• Sign in to YouTube Studio and click Create at the top right.
• Choose Upload videos and pick your file or files; you can upload up to 15 videos at once.
• Click Edit draft to complete the details, then publish.
• The file must be square or vertical and up to 3 minutes long.

What counts as a Short once it is uploaded?

YouTube says videos that are square or vertical and up to three minutes are categorized as Shorts, with an October 15, 2024 start for standard channels and December 8, 2025 for Official Artist Channels. A 16:9 video is not a Short, so a screen recording from a tablet in landscape will land as long-form.

Resolution tops out at 1080p according to the Create page, so exporting at a higher size gains nothing for a Short.

Where does Sume fit?

Sume does not record video and has no Shorts camera, and it does not upload to YouTube. What it can do is make or fix the file before you upload. POST /v1/videos generates a clip with aspect_ratio set to 9:16, and Video inspect probes a clip you already have, with the probe and stills unbilled, so you can confirm duration and shape before you open Studio.

If a tablet recording came out landscape, the crop and trim steps in our post on 16:9 to a 9:16 Short show the order that works: crop first, then trim.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-inspect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: tablet-clip-check-001" \
  -d '{
    "video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/tablet.mp4",
    "frames": false
  }'

What should you keep in mind about drafts?

YouTube says Shorts drafts are stored locally and are lost if the app is deleted or the device replaced, so keep your master file somewhere durable. Our post on drafts lost on a new phone goes deeper.