Apple TV 3 Owners Report Issues Viewing YouTube Content

[MacRumors]

Google appears to have handicapped its YouTube support for the third-generation Apple TV, based on hundreds of user complaints on Apple's support forums and in YouTube's Help Center.

Multiple users are reporting problems accessing certain YouTube content such as music videos. When attempting to watch the content, viewers are being met with the message "An error occurred loading this content. Try again later."

One Reddit user who contacted Apple customer support reports that Apple claims the issue is on Google's end, following recent changes it made to the YouTube platform. However, Google has yet to address or acknowledge the problem, despite numerous reports being filed and submitted over the course of more than two weeks.

Have you had trouble viewing YouTube content on a third-gen Apple TV? Let us know in the comments below.

Article Link: Apple TV 3 Owners Report Issues Viewing YouTube Content

 

[jcswim312]

Makes sense that the third gen Apple TV is slowly losing support... After all it came out in 2012

I still have a few 3rd gen ATVs lying around - mostly just use them when I travel incase I forget it in the hotel

 

[AdamFootUK]

I’m also having issues as an Apple TV 4 user, but only because the app is so badly designed for Apple TV 😂

 

[travelsheep]

I recently bought a second hand Apple TV 2 (15 USD without remote) and this one doesn't even have the Youtube app ... luxury problems!

 

[iParis]

Ahhh, I have a friend who's having this issue for my 3rd gen Apple TV I'm letting her borrow. I was supposed to go over tomorrow to try to see what the issue is, but at least I know nothing is wrong with the Apple TV itself now.

Sucks to see it losing support or if they never fix this. I know it's old, but it still works really well, has still gotten apps randomly added to it over the years, and even it got a software update a couple weeks ago on March 24th.

 

[thequietaussie]

I’m also having issues as an Apple TV 4 user, but only because the app is so badly designed for Apple TV 😂

 

[agsystems]

"Google appears to have handicapped its YouTube support for the third-generation Apple TV, based on hundreds of user complaints on Apple's support forums and in YouTube's Help Center. "

interesting I've been noticing this in my bedroom Apple 3rd Gen - to 'solve' the issue, I am airplaying and that works very well

 

[iParis]

Idk, I don't see people having as many UI issues on other devices as on 4th gen Apple TVs. I literally have to stop using the Siri Remote before I have an anxiety attack and use my iPhone as a remote because of how sensitive it is and a pain in the ass to use the app with the Siri Remote.

 

[Seamaster]

I couldn't even launch YouTube on my 4th gen recently. Deleting the app and reinstalling it fixed it. Obviously not an answer for the 3rd gen.

 

[thequietaussie]

Idk, I don't see people having as many UI issues on other devices as on 4th gen Apple TVs. I literally have to stop using the Siri Remote before I have an anxiety attack and use my iPhone as a remote because of how sensitive it is and a pain in the ass to use the app with the Siri Remote.

Fair, I just haven't come across a YouTube app on a platform that isn't iOS / Android that wasn't an absolutely awful user experience.

 

[-AG-]

The issue isn't just on the ATVs, its also happening on other devices due to google limiting bandwidth at Youtube to help spread the load due to crappy internet infrastructure in a lot of countries.
The rate things are heading it's going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[klunernet]

I’m guessing the lack of netneutrality in the USA could also be a factor. The older cannot use the efficient codec google prefers to minimize traffic. Which is more a problem for them in the USA, then e.g. Europe with its massive peering infrastructure.

 

[allenvanhellen]

OK, let’s just keep buying new streaming boxes every 5 years and throwing the old ones in the trash. Great.

 

[Spacetime Anomaly]

Airplaying YouTube videos has always been a faster method on these older models.

 

[CarlJ]

Idk, I don't see people having as many UI issues on other devices as on 4th gen Apple TVs. I literally have to stop using the Siri Remote before I have an anxiety attack and use my iPhone as a remote because of how sensitive it is and a pain in the ass to use the app with the Siri Remote.

The YouTube app is a cross-platform mess that only begrudgingly supports the AppleTV. One of the problems is they don't really support the trackpad, it's built for a D-pad. If you stop trying to swipe, and instead just lightly tap on the top, bottom, or sides of the trackpad, it works a lot better. (Also, there's a setting in the settings app for how sensitive the Siri trackpad is.)

I've learned to operate within its limitations. The two that still frustrate me no end are:

One, every time you unpause, YouTube insists on covering the bottom half of the screen with largely unnecessary controls and "you might also like" advertisements for other videos (dammit YouTube, I unpaused this video, that means I want to watch this video - stop using half the screen to tell me about other videos), and you can't dismiss this from the trackpad, only using the menu button (or waiting), and if you hit the menu button to dismiss it just as it decides to auto-dismiss, then the menu button performs its other primary purpose and takes you out of the video. So infuriating!

And, two, when their lower-half travesty of videos and controls is on the screen, every time you move from the timeline down to the other controls, if the video is paused, IT UNPAUSES THE VIDEO FOR YOU! Dammit YouTube! I paused it to and brought up the bottom, you know, have it stay in the same place while I went to add it to a list or something - why are you starting the video back up? It's precisely what I don't want at the moment. It's like it's trying to trick you into hitting the menu button to dismiss the mess on the bottom half of the screen, and maybe jump out of the video entirely.

Also, serious points off for using the row under the video title to tell me that it's "Recommended for you". With upwards of 17 trillion videos on YouTube now, every video listed on my screen is going to be somehow recommended for me - I also don't care how many times it's been viewed. Instead, tell me the date the video was posted. Lots of times there'll be 3-4 videos from the same source, and I want to watch them in order. Armed with the date I can do that. If all 4 just say "Recommended for you", then I have to guess.

The iPad YouTube app handles the video controls at the bottom, and the date/info under the the thumbnail issues much better. I wish we could have that on the Apple TV.

 

[jhowarth]

Shouldn't really be a shock. HBO just put an alert into the home page of their HBO Now and HBO Go apps alerting users to an April 30th termination date for supporting viewing on the same device.

 

[Glideslope]

Gen 4 ATV here. Use YouTube daily. No issues.

 

[msurtees]

I couldn't even launch YouTube on my 4th gen recently. Deleting the app and reinstalling it fixed it. Obviously not an answer for the 3rd gen.

Donald Crowhurst?

 

[PostApple2016BrainWash]

The issue isn't just on the ATVs, its also happening on other devices due to google limiting bandwidth at Youtube to help spread the load due to crappy internet infrastructure in a lot of countries.
The rate things are heading it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Agreed. Apple is incapable of alleviating the problem.

 

[cgs1xx]

The YouTube experience is very poor outside a browser, both UI and functionality. Whether it's on Apple TV or a smart tv app... It's bizarre really why Google can't be bothered with it.

 

[Boyd01]

I have two Apple TV 3's and (as of last night) YouTube seemed to be working fine. Every now and then I also get the error message mentioned in the article. But that is not new, have seen it randomly for quite some time but not very often. But if the problem is specific to music videos then I wouldn't know, because I don't watch those.

 

[ColdnFrosty]

It doesn't appear to be limited to Apple TV. For the past couple of weeks, TiVo users have had problems accessing nav controls in the YouTube app.

 

[machpost]

The YouTube experience is very poor outside a browser, both UI and functionality. Whether it's on Apple TV or a smart tv app... It's bizarre really why Google can't be bothered with it.

It's particularly bad on the TiVo platform. They did something to the app sometime in the last 6–12 months and it's basically unusable now, even on the latest generation box. Somehow it manages to cause problems outside the app after it's been used.

 

[Basic75]

Makes sense that the third gen Apple TV is slowly losing support... After all it came out in 2012

Makes sense still keeping it as a pure media player box, also it's the last generation with an audio output. Anyhow, I've also hit the Youtube issue.

 

[benji888]

Google appears to have handicapped its YouTube support for the third-generation Apple TV, based on hundreds of user complaints on Apple's support forums and in YouTube's Help Center..

Have you had trouble viewing YouTube content on a third-gen Apple TV? Let us know in the comments below.

Instead of complaining here, which does nothing, use the link provided to complain to google (YT) as they are the only ones that can do anything about it, (not that they will, but, if enough people contact them about it, there’s a greater chance they’ll address the issue).