Weird YouTube bug found to nest mostly on one specific Apple device
After watching a YouTube video in full-screen, you might see the title, description, and comments about the video disappear.
Strange YouTube bug affects Apple device | Image by PhoneArena
YouTube has come a long way over the nearly two decades since it was first found on a mobile device in 2007 with the launch of the original iPhone. In one of the first television ads for the revolutionary smartphone, Apple called YouTube "an endless source of entertainment" while showing a clip of older people dancing. At the time, YouTube was a built-in application for the iPhone.
YouTube has 2.7 billion monthly users globally
Since then, YouTube has broadened its library to include original shows, live and taped news and sports, and content from creators that spans almost any category you can think of. The platform has 2.7 billion monthly active users (MAU) worldwide. In the US, that metric ranges between 238 million and 259 million monthly users.
When Apple released the huge iOS 6 makeover in the fall of 2012 (removing my beloved skeuomorphic icons), it also decided to move the YouTube app to the App Store where iPhone users could decide whether or not they wanted to install it. While Apple does not reveal App Store installation numbers, I'd bet that there are some iPad owners who are upset with the YouTube app right now.
Google admits that the YouTube app has a major bug
Google has confessed that there is a bug on the iPad version of the YouTube app. A post in the YouTube Help community forum from a Googler reveals that information about a video you've just watched in full-screen mode on an iPad is disappearing after exiting that mode.
Google describes it by explaining what users might be seeing once they exit full-screen mode on their iPads. According to the gang at Mountain View, the title of a video, the description of the video, and the comment section all disappear from the YouTube app while you are using it. This weird bug is apparently found mostly on iPad models as Google simply typed, "You may be seeing this primarily [on] iPads," which doesn't seem to totally rule out its appearance on other devices.
The company is "actively investigating" the issue
The Alphabet subsidiary wants you to know that it is "actively investigating" the bug. Apple iPad users have been adding comments to Google's post with one pointing out that the data that disappears from the YouTube app will reappear when you exit the app and reopen it. There is no need to say "Abracadabra" as you do this.
Another YouTube user found that the information that disappeared (to reiterate, that would include the title of the video you were watching, the description of the video, and the comment section) reappeared when the iPad was shifted to portrait orientation from landscape (with the screen lock disabled, of course). Once the tablet was turned back to landscape, the data disappeared.
Just a small sample showing how many Redditors are dealing with this iPad focused YouTube bug. | Image by Reddit
Judging from the comments, iPad users have been dealing with this bug for several days. One affected iPad user dealing with this issue writes that it has been a week and a half. Some were originally blaming Apple and their iPads for the bug before finding out that Google is responsible.
How one iPad user protests the YouTube bug
Another iPad user is so upset by the bug that he removed one star from his review hoping that Google would take notice and exterminate the bug. Well, considering that the post in the forum was written by a Google employee who wrote out all of the known issues, I'd say that the odds are that Google is very well aware of the problem and, as stated, is working to exterminate the bug.
If you don't have YouTube on your iPad, you can get it by tapping on this link. By the way, the bug could be connected to version 21.32.4 of the iPad YouTube app, which was released last week. If you want to get a good idea about how many people are affected by this bug, just check out how many Redditors are complaining that they are dealing with this issue.
If articles about YouTube warm the cockles of your heart, check these out:
- Direct Messaging is coming back to YouTube
- New search feature surfaces on YouTube
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