This is a new step in the planned obsolescence of mobile devices. The latest update to the YouTube app on iOS represents a major disruption for many users of older Apple devices: some iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models will no longer be able to access the video app. Google's decision to raise the minimum iOS version requirement is based on technical and security imperatives, but also on a desire to streamline the app's development. Maintaining compatibility with older operating systems ties up resources and limits the integration of new features.
Which Apple devices are affected?
Since the rollout of version 20.22.1 of the YouTube app, iOS 16 (or iPadOS 16) is required to install and use the app. This requirement effectively excludes all devices that cannot be updated beyond iOS 15. These include:
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone SE (first generation, 2016)
- iPod touch 7th generation
- iPad Air 2
- iPad mini 4
What are the alternatives?
Owners of these older devices are not completely excluded from YouTube. They can still access the platform via a mobile web browser, via the address m.youtube.com. This solution allows you to continue watching videos, but the user experience is, unsurprisingly, less fluid and lacks some of the native app's features.
This was to be expected
This change, although mainly affecting older devices, which have therefore become a minority on the market, illustrates the growing difficulty for brands to support major updates across their entire catalog. YouTube's case is not isolated: other popular applications, such as Netflix and WhatsApp, have recently adopted the same policy by ceasing to support older iPhones. For users, the only sustainable alternative remains the acquisition of a more recent device, compatible with the latest versions of iOS. This situation calls into question not only the real sustainability of technological objects, in an ecosystem where software innovation sets its pace for hardware obsolescence, but also the industry's meager efforts to limit its environmental impact.
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