Many Android TV users aren’t happy with the new version of YouTube for Google’s smart TV platform, with a number of them taking to the World Wide Web to voice their complaints about the Alphabet-owned company’s latest revision of the service. More than a dozen of displeased users posted in the official thread announcing the update on the Google Product Forums, complaining about several issues that they have with the new variant of the platform. The most common complaint tied to what can objectively be categorized as a problem is the one related to the new requirements for using the app in the first place; following the update, YouTube for Android TV only works with personal accounts, i.e. those that are tied to an individual Google+ profile. One community manager at Google recently confirmed that the latest version of the service is not compatible with brand accounts but didn’t elaborate on the matter, so it’s still unclear whether brand accounts will eventually be able to use the app once again.
Some users complaining about the lack of support for brand accounts are arguing that they don’t want to use their real names on YouTube and are hence unwilling to benefit from all of the improvements that YouTube for Android TV 2.0 brings. Some have suggested that Google provides them with the option of moving a Brand channel to a personal Google account but without requiring them to use their real names on YouTube. The aforementioned acknowledgment from Google and the fact that the company’s official support pages state that brand accounts cannot use the latest version of YouTube for Android TV clearly indicate that the current state of affairs isn’t a result of a bug or a design oversight, making it more unlikely that users will be able to access the service with brand accounts in the future.
Other complaints pertaining to the new version of YouTube for Android TV are mostly related to its overall design, with a number of users complaining about the fact that the platform now isn’t in line with Google’s own Material Design guidelines and is essentially identical to the YouTube on TV browser app. The Mountain View, California-based tech giant has yet to address those complaints and it remains to be seen whether the feedback it’s currently receiving will prompt it to introduce some major changes to the service in the future.