YouTube Rich Previews No Longer Appear in Messages

[caoimhin]

I’m aware that a similar issue has popped up with WhatsApp. This concerns Apple’s Messages app in iOS.

For the last few weeks, YouTube links shared in Messages have only appeared as the tiny little “youtu.be” external link icon. No preview of the video the link points to.

This happens whether I copy/paste a link from YouTube in Safari, generate and paste a link from the YouTube app, or share a link to a specific recipient in Messages from the YouTube app.

The issue does not occur on Messages on my Mac.

I’m running the latest version of iOS. I’ve reinstalled the YouTube app. I’ve restored iOS from a backup. No luck.

What am I missing? Very minor, but annoying, issue.

 

[s2mike]

It’s working fine for me.

For what it’s worth, the YouTube iOS app was just updated within the last 10 minutes or so.

 

[caoimhin]

Thanks Mike. Updated, still no luck. Is there some obvious setting to enable/disable rich previews that I’m missing?

Ill also add that YouTube is the only app “withholding” previews. No issues with news app or Reddit links.

 

[s2mike]

Thanks Mike. Updated, still no luck. Is there some obvious setting to enable/disable rich previews that I’m missing?

Ill also add that YouTube is the only app “withholding” previews. No issues with news app or Reddit links.

No setting as far as I’m aware. Just checked my YouTube app settings and didn’t see anything that seems to affect that behavior.

This is a puzzling one…

 

[EM2013]

I’ve noticed that before on links I’ve received.

But the links I’ve send show the preview.

 

[caoimhin]

Bit of an update.

I backed up and restored my device from the backup. The previews seemed to be working again, however--I didn't notice that the phone had connected to WiFi. It seems that the issue is ONLY when connected to cellular (AT&T).

When connected to cellular, there are still no previews. In fact, when I long-press on the link, it pops up with a YouTube screen that says, "Sorry for the interruption. We have been receiving a large volume of requests from your network. To continue with your YouTube experience, please fill out the (reCaptcha) below."

So the problem seems to be with AT&T, I guess. Their tech support was absolutely no help. I reset my network settings and cleared browser cache and cookies. That was the extent of it.

Any other thoughts?

 

[s2mike]

Now this has started happening to me!

 

[caoimhin]

It started working for me a week or two ago. Just as mysteriously as it stopped, it started again...

 

[s2mike]

Been having some issues with Twitter link previews showing up today.

Force quitting the Messages app and reopening solved the problem.

 

[pentool]

It started happening to me a few days ago on desktop iMessage. This is how all YT previews look on iMessage (macOS 10.14.6). It just shows a "Before you continue to YouTube" thing, even though I am logged in to YT.

This started happening after apparently Google has done something in the background regarding privacy. Whenever I have cookies cleared in the browser and visit YT, this is what I get:

And if I want to go to www.google.com this is what I get:

It's really annoying and frustrating at the same time. Welcome to the communist takeover!

 

[Haribokart]

It's really annoying and frustrating at the same time. Welcome to the communist takeover!

You need to peak to a psychiatrist mate, you're nuts ?

 

[Kylo83]

I thought it was a beta issue but it’s mega annoying

 

[Dusty Bin]

I’m getting exactly the same issue as pentool (post #10).

Any resolution to this yet?

I liked the previews that appeared in iMessages and miss them!

It’s the small things, isn’t it?

 

[Risco]

Happening to me too, how to fix?

 

[pentool]

Apparently this is a bug for EU users. The "fix" I found is that you need to use a VPN with a US server before sending a link in Messages - which is quite annoying, to say the least - but it works.

YouTube idiots at work...

 

[Gam9bit]

You can use the iMessage app from YouTube. The preview will show again.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

It's because of YouTube's new privacy consent message as others have noted.

Telegram and Signal have both managed to bypass this issue so previews still show up, so it should be possible in iMessage too, just depends on how much Apple cares.

If it's not fixed in the iOS 14.5 RC don't expect a fix until at least 14.6.

Not a huge issue for me since I use Signal for most of my communication but I have one group chat on iMessage and it has been annoying.

 

[19callum93]

Ah having the same issue. Was hoping iOS 14.5 would fix it, but it hasn’t ?‍♂️

 

[s2mike]

Pretty much all iMessage link previews are currently acting wonky with iOS 14.6…Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, even Safari links have been showing up incorrectly.

 

[flottenheimer]

Same issue here.
Incredibly annoying.

Between friends, colleagues and family we share a lot of Youtube videos.
Please fix this, Apple/Google!

 

[Polly Mercocet]

Pretty much all iMessage link previews are currently acting wonky with iOS 14.6…Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, even Safari links have been showing up incorrectly.

This can be seen as a positive though. iOS 14.6 is in its very first beta and Apple is clearly tweaking the way iMessage previews work. Hopefully by the time the final release is out the issues are fixed and the YouTube previews work again like they do in Signal and Telegram. And the fact all links are screwy in the first beta suggests they are making improvements across the board for how the previews work. Maybe we'll even see some cool new features for the previews.

 

[Kylo83]

its fixed for me on 14.5