YouTube for Android TV is due to receive an update soon which will enable users to activate and use brand accounts. While this might seem like something that should already be available via the Android TV version of YouTube, it was. However, YouTube recently made available a new version of its app for Android TV and one which came with a fairly substantial UI change. Although it was not publicly known at the time, the update also came with a limitation of use on brand accounts. Something which users had to find out by trying to log in with a brand account, only to find they no longer could. Needless to say, this caused some uproar from those users and while Google confirmed that brand account support was currently not provided, it did not offer any timeline on when, or even if, that would change in the future.
That is what has now changed, as while there is still no firm details on when the update will arrive, it is coming. Interestingly, the confirmation of this came through the Google Play Store listing for the Android TV YouTube app. As part of the changelog (which normally advises of features that have been added in the latest update), the “What’s new” information explains that while this version of the app is incompatible with brand accounts, the team are “working to add this support in a follow on release in the coming weeks.” The listing seems to have been updated on August 8 along with another update to the app. Although this latest version only looks to iron out a few bugs that have been found since the big redesign update. The listed bugs include a fix for an app stuttering and/or freezing issue, a fix for those who experience the app crashing when used with either Thai or Persian languages enabled, and a fix for those who experience general crashing when launching.
It is worth noting that brand access to YouTube on Android TV is only one of many issues that users have found with the new design. At present however, there are no details on whether any of the other aspects that have been found to be problematic will be fixed. Likewise, it is unclear as to whether the brand support access will result in support for multiple users, or whether it just means that users will be able to log in with a brand account, and will then have to sign out and sign back in again – to make use of a personal (non-brand) account.