YouTube App No Longer Available on 3rd-Gen Apple TV, AirPlay Now Required to Watch Videos

[nanosaur]

I gotta be honest, I love that apple still seem to be providing security support for the 3rd gen apple tv - it is nearly 9 years old. Many other streaming devices of that age would be firmly in the "under no circumstances connect to the internet" camp by this point. Two of the common problems with smart devices and IoT ultimately - whilst it seems like security's not an issue right now, ongoing support is starting to become one.

At the end of the day, Apple decided on a new standard going forth from the 4th gen TV, it's not reasonable to expect third parties to keep developing for all platforms indefinitely.

It's sad to see, but in all honesty, without having attended any YT dev meetings, I can see it from YT's point of view. To them it's worth it so long as ad revenue and user data from 3rd gen apple TV's continues to make supporting it worthwhile, at some point those numbers were always going to dip below the cost/benefit threshold

 

[DeepIn2U]

I have a 3rd gen Apple TV on a spare tv and this is disappointing as it's to have access and for a guest to use who doesn't have an iOS device. YouTube could've supported it for a couple more years longer at least but this is why external devices for TV are ultimately temporary, even a brand new Apple TV is ultimately doomed to die slowly through a lack of support.

sorry but it’s the same thought can be applied to smartTVs after a few short months of warranty end date when the company no longer wants to update the core smartTv software.

 

[jwolf6589]

This is terrible news. Shameful they are throwing their customers under the bus with this.

Why?? ATV 3 is ancient hardware and software. People need to learn to upgrade if they have such an old device.

 

[btbeme]

This is ridiculous. Another example of unjustified tech obsolescence. There is no reason for this other than unwillingness to support older products. Thus making people to consider buying new and throwing the old one away. More waste in the making. If this was a toaster and the bakery told you that you need a new toaster to toast their bread you would laugh in their face. So why is it we think software companies can do the same and people just accept it?

Unjustified tech obsolescence would indicate a motive. I’m pretty sure YouTube makes exactly nothing from someone buying a newer ATV. Please specify their motivation in “forcing” that behavior.

More likely (and in fact more accurately) these older devices and processors in them cannot keep up with what YouTube, et. Al. would like to deliver as a better user experience. I can’t name a single consumer device that doesn’t have the same goal.

I can name one end-user system that values legacy over the user experience, though. It is fraught with ancient rituals for use, but, hey, it still likes your decades-old stuff. Microsoft calls it “Windows”.

 

[germinator]

Why? This is bad, but I am not surprised, coming from the evil company.

 

[hot-gril]

I understand hardware being this disposable if it's heavily optimized for a use case, but the Apple TV gens 1-3 weren't really. Lame UIs. I never owned gen 4+, so I'm not sure. Those seem a lot better but not impressive enough for me to buy. The only great feature on ATV (except gen 1) has always been AirPlay. Yeah smart TVs have it now, but it's usually too flaky to be convenient.

The cheap 2008 Windows PC connected to my TV has fulfilled my set-top-box purposes better, esp since it can play anything.

 

[germinator]

People need to learn to upgrade if they have such an old device.

WTF? Why would I have to upgrade if my old device still works perfectly? What logic is that?

 

[hot-gril]

WTF? Why would I have to upgrade if my old device still works perfectly? What logic is that?

Doesn't work perfectly anymore

 

[hot-gril]

Why?? ATV 3 is ancient hardware and software. People need to learn to upgrade if they have such an old device.

"How dare you not buy more stuff!"

 

[yg17]

Why? This is bad, but I am not surprised, coming from the evil company.

Because the hardware is over 5 years old. They can’t support it forever. Apple cuts off iOS support for iPhones after about 5 years but I bet you don’t call them evil. You probably call them innovative and wonderful for supporting hardware for that long.

 

[oldmacs]

Why?? ATV 3 is ancient hardware and software. People need to learn to upgrade if they have such an old device.

Yay more and more tech wastage in a world where we shouldn't be wasting resources.

 

[blazerunner]

Time for many of you to buy an Nvidia Shield TV!

 

[Whathappened]

Dad is not pleased, and being a person who can barely use his phone, AirPlay is not a good solution.

Hardly. Most smart TV's in the last 5-7 years will have native YouTube apps - use those. People can't use old tech forever and expect it to be fully supported.

Apple TV itself is mostly redundant when it comes to streaming apps as TV's do it much better natively and most support 4K.

Smart tvs usually have the worst versions of any app

 

[Marli]

Smart tvs usually have the worst versions of any app

Not the one on my LG. The LG YT app leaves the apple TV one in its wake..

 

[Marli]

Actually, the whole Apple TV experience isnt very good.. especially that stupid remote..

 

[pacalis]

I just bought a cheap roku + iphone + airpods pro on my gym tv.

iphone remote plus bluetooth option. Works great for YT, disney, amazon etc... and doesn't listen in on me.

 

[MrCrowbar]

It just feels weird that a device that used ti be able to play youTube no longer can. The youTube experience was always pretty limited but it's still sad to see it go. At this point, my Apple TV is just an AirPlay receiver so I can beam music to the little stereo System and beam youTube videos to the spare TV.

Considering I bought it lot of years ago used for 50 bucks and the s/pidf output is pretty good, I'm okay with it. Even had a working Netflix login for years.

 

[wanha]

“Those who have a third-generation Apple TV that are thinking of upgrading might want to hold off, as there is a refresh rumored to be coming later this year.”

Where have I heard that before? I’ve been waiting to upgrade for years.

They're still working on an Apple TV remote that looks good but doesn't suck.

 

[wanha]

The YouTube tvOS app still can't properly play their movies with ads. On both of my Apple TV HD models, the app never loads the movie after playing the ads. It also has a nasty tendency to stop recognizing movements around the menus via the remote's track pad unless the entire box is rebooted.

Hey! The inconsistency of people is nothing if not consistent.

 

[Adam-Jobs]

Loved my ATV 3... until I purchased a Fire Stick. YouTube is far superior on this for a fraction of the price.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Still watching a tv that’s 5 years old? Bad consumer! Throw everything you own in the trash every two years, three at the most. Think of the children! Someone’s got to keep the landfills full for them to work in.

 

[reyesmac]

Like this reviewer says, just replace your old Apple TV with the new Chromecast with Google TV. Unlike earlier models, this Chromecast has a voice remote and a full on-screen UI that runs Android TV apps inside a new content aggregation system called Google TV. So while you still have the option of casting to it from other devices, you don't have to.

If your Apple TV is losing apps, get ’em back with a $49 Google TV Chromecast

If you're missing YouTube, HBO Max, Disney+ and other streaming services that you lost on your third-gen Apple TV, a $50 Chromecast with Google TV is a much more affordable investment than an Apple TV 4K streaming box.

www.macworld.com

IMO, it's the best streamer you can get for $50. I have an Apple TV 4K and love it but it's an expensive device. Bought my parents the new Chromecast as a Christmas gift and it's pretty nice. It even runs the Apple TV app now. Doesn't have other Apple apps, though, like Apple Music or Arcade. If you need those on your TV, you'll need the Apple TV HD or 4K.

I did the same for mine at christmas and the difference from a $200 apple tv to a $50 dongle was very noticeable. It was such a watered down experience filled with unexpected difficulty and slow or just buggy hardware. Every feature Apple put into the apple tv to save me time is noticeably absent from the chromecast. The chromecast is its own thing but do not expect everything to work as nicely or even as fast as it does on the apple tv. Its fine if you never experienced a newer apple tv because you wont know what your missing. I would say an old old apple tv would still behave better performance and be more intuitive than the chromecast is today. I'm sure its fine once you know its limitations but changing the way I engage with a digital device on the big screen just feels worse on the chromecast than the apple tv.

 

[reyesmac]

Loved my ATV 3... until I purchased a Fire Stick. YouTube is far superior on this for a fraction of the price.

Fire stick is better than a chromecast but I pay google just to get rid of ads on their site. The fire stick has so much content in your face that its trying to sell you that I returned the darn thing because it got so annoying. If I didnt have to navigate through a minefield of ads to get to my content it wouldn't be so bad. But if you have small children they wont know why they can't watch everything they click on. A fire stick without a prime subscription when all you need the device for is to watch your locally streamed content is not worth it, better to pay more for something that does not get in the way of that every time you turn it on.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Actually, the whole Apple TV experience isnt very good.. especially that stupid remote..

So buy a different remote.

Shocking.

 

[Steve121178]

Smart tvs usually have the worst versions of any app

Not in my experience. On my Samsung & LG TV’s the YouTube, Netflix, Prime, Apple TV & Disney experience is brilliant.

My remote even has dedicated buttons for Netflix & Prime, plus native voice support for all.

Seems good enough to me.