Google to discontinue YouTube support on older iOS devices, Apple TVs

The YouTube app will no longer function on many older iOS devices and Apple TVs after today, a consequence of the YouTube Data API being updated to support newer features, according to an official Google document.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users are safe as long their device supports iOS 7 or later — the oldest option being the iPhone 4. Devices capped at iOS 6 or earlier will have to visit m.youtube.com through Safari or another browser. Apple TV owners with a first- or second-generation model, meanwhile, will not be able to access YouTube at all starting Tuesday.

Google is also discontinuing native support for some non-Apple platforms, such as Google TV devices still running version 2, a few game consoles, and a collection of Sony and Panasonic TVs and Blu-ray players. In general, affected products date back to 2012 or earlier.

In terms of Apple products, the change will likely have the most impact on owners of the second-generation Apple TV, which is still a relatively practical device. It in fact supports most of the same features as the third-generation model, the main difference being the latter's support for 1080p.

Users of some of the affected devices are finding that if they search for content the first result will always be a multi-language YouTube video (below) informing them of the shutdown.

Google notes that people can export subscriptions to an RSS reader by downloading their personal OPML file and importing it into an app such as Feedly.