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YouTube App Removed From iOS 6 Beta4

Posted by samzenpus on from the you're-outta-here dept.

TrueSatan writes "iOS 6 beta 4 has removed the YouTube application that existed on iOS since the first version in 2007. Apple confirmed that YouTube is gone from iOS 6. Google is apparently building its own app saying: 'Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.'"

16 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. thank god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can now delete an app I never used.

  2. Downward Spiral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First no Google Maps, now this. iOS is really heading south.

    1. Re:Downward Spiral by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yup, because no one could possibly produce anything better...

      YouTube never made sense as a built in app - it also breaks your flow of usage if you want to view multiple videos on one page, as each takes you out of the fecking browser and into another app. Keep it all in the browser and allow it to full screen the video when requested - you know, like PornHub does!

      And relying on a third service for what is rapidly becoming a central reason to have a multipurpose phone (mapping and turn by turn navigation) when the relationship between you and that third party was never going to fly, especially when that same third party is fostering a competitor to your platform - goodbye Google Maps, hello something better.

    2. Re:Downward Spiral by Cinder6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      YouTube made lots of sense when the iPhone first came out. Back then, youtube.com didn't work properly in Safari--the app was necessary to even watch YouTube videos. Since then, support was added and the .app never received much in the way of updates. This move is actually a good thing. Just go to youtube.com/mobile and tap "add it to the homescreen".

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
  3. Glad to be an Android user.... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm glad to be an Android user. I'll stick with that.

    1. Re:Glad to be an Android user.... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2, Insightful

      *I* am also able to decide that I want a YouTube app and I don't have to let Apple make that decision for me.

    2. Re:Glad to be an Android user.... by Kenja · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you choosing to download an app is "apple making a decision for you", unlike the app being included no mater what you choose?

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    3. Re:Glad to be an Android user.... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In this case, the change is actually for the better as far as you are concerned, then - where previously YouTube was a stock iOS app, and, as such, unremovable, Now it's going to be just another app published by Google via App Store, so you can decide whether to install it or not.

    4. Re:Glad to be an Android user.... by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then just download the new app when it hits the store and shut the fuck up. This is a change only in that the Youtube app is no longer unremovable from the system which was a stupid idea.

  4. Good by MrDoh! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These devices should come with the basic app market/store and as little else as possible. When signing up, offer the basics, browser/email, and a list of suggested good to haves, but the lighter these things are on base install, the better. Ok, might be a pain for some people getting a device that's 'empty' and needs 5 mins of installing before it's considered useful, but sure would make upgrades easier later with having no apps baked in.

    --
    Waiting for an amusing sig.
  5. Re:Not like we used it anyway by Supp0rtLinux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ironically, since the Safari web app came out, people have been asking for this especially since many of the videos won't play in the native app anyway you need the web app or Vevo, etc. Yet as soon as they pull it, people start making a big deal out of it. Sure Apple is distancing themselves from Google a bit, but its not like this broke something. It would be different if Google Voice was built into IOS like it is on Android and then Apple removed it. That would have some impact. But simply removing the YouTube app? Not so much.

  6. I don't see a problem here. by westlake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The proper place for Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, and all the rest would seem to be as optional downloads from the iOS App Store.

    The only fair alternatives are to pre-load all competing media players and give them the same prominence as iTunes or introduce a purely bureaucratic solution like the European "browser ballot" for media play.

  7. Re:Does there need to be an app for everything? by magamiako1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Part of the reason for 'having an app' is for native performance on the hardware itself. Even Facebook is making a native app on iOS.

    Source: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120964/facebook-objective-c-app

  8. Re:Coming soon, "Apple iTube" by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wait, what? They're removing a watered-down YouTube app made by Apple, and now you'll have the option to install an official one instead (or just use the website.)

    So no, it's the exact opposite of what you said.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  9. Re:Life is hotter in the south by oakgrove · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Instead of iOS developers being limited in what they can do with a map (like no turn by turn directions) by arbitrary Google limitations, iOS map based apps can now do anything they like atop a map.

    How about iOS developers that need high perfomance javascript in their webviews? Or users that would like to use Opera as their default to open links? On Android not only can I make any browser (or none of them) the default but I can fine tune it down to the point that links from different sites seamlessly open in my browser of choice, e.g., some sites just look better in Opera like Slashdot, some better in Chrome like CNet. And because a developer restricts API access or doesn't offer a particular API at all doesn't mean it's some "arbitrary decision". There are many things that go into those types of decisions and just because Apple brass is accusing Google of essentially "being mean" and you parroting the party line doesn't make it so. Think carefully lest you be hypocritical.

    --
    The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
  10. Re:Mars expedition is staged by kallisti · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Therefore Arnie's Total Recall was not Total Recall.

    Yes it was, it's just not "We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale". Which neither movie really resembles in the slightest.