Andrew Orr
Some Apple TV set-top box owners have recently discovered a bug with the YouTube app on it, and it's not clear why or how it started.
Users have reported on Reddit and Twitter that when they exit the YouTube app in tvOS, it prompts them to confirm if they want to exit. It causes a black screen to appear, leaving users with no choice but to force close the app.
YouTube Support is recommending to some users that they can force-close an Apple TV app by double-pressing the TV button on the Siri Remote, navigating to the app, and swiping up on the trackpad. The official YouTube account recommends restarting the Apple TV and deleting and reinstalling the YouTube app to its latest version.
sorry for the trouble! if you haven't yet try restarting your device. deleting the app + reinstalling its latest version can also help
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 12, 2022
Another workaround is to press and hold the Menu/Back button on the Siri Remote, instead of interacting with the YouTube app's prompt to exit. Or, press the TV button instead.
None of the workarounds appear to fix the problem, permanently, however.
I can't normally exit the @YouTube app on my Apple TV anymore. There's a new dialogue that asks if I want to quit the app. A positive answer leads to a black screen from which I can only force quit the app through the task manager. #onlyGoogle
— Christian Raddatz (@speedlimiter) December 11, 2022
It's not clear where the problem lies, in this case. Reports of the issues do not coincide with Apple's recent updates, and are concentrated over the weekend of December 10. For now, it appears the issue may be completely server-side, or a bug in the app induced by a change on how YouTube is serving data.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
21 Comments
Hello, yes, this started this weekend for me. I also found that exiting the app on Apple TV signed me out elsewhere. To reverse out of You Tube on Apple TV I use TV/Control Centre button.
I started to have issues with my HomePods and the YouTube app. When playing a video and after the first YT ad the sound stops playing on my HomePod stereo group, the video continues to play. I would have to either rewind or click out of the video or play it again. I restarted my HomePods, removed them from my Home app then went through the entire process again. The issue persists. It issue does not appear when using the TV's sound output. Weird
Luckily I haven’t seen this yet. I only just recently thought of the ida to use the app because my computer is connected to my television and so I use YouTube that way. But I recently decided that I didn’t wat to periodically get up to terminate the ad anymore.
I also remember a while back there was an issue where the Up Next row moved down to make room for a Featured row. I wonder if that was something that Apple tried and then decided to revert back. I never lost Up Next. It has always been in the top row and still is. I also wonder what they meant by Featured. My rows are Up Next, then What To Watch, Now on Apple TV+, Most Popular on Apple TV+, etc.
And I’ll bet those Reddit and Twitter users are blaming and trashing Apple for it too.