YouTube app ends support for Android 6 phones

YouTube is the world’s most popular video-sharing service watched by billions of people every day. The YouTube app is widely used on smartphones but some users will soon no longer be able to use it on their devices.

Google is ending YouTube app support and access for smartphones running the Android 6 operating system. After the end of July 2026, Android 7 or later will be required to watch YouTube through the app on Android phones.

It is important to note that YouTube will not suddenly stop working on affected phones nor will all data be deleted.

Instead, phones running Android 6 will gradually begin experiencing problems. When users open the app, they may see a message saying “Switch to YouTube” after which they will be redirected to the mobile YouTube website through their phone’s browser.

The main reason for this change is that YouTube is constantly being updated while new features may not work properly on older operating systems. For this reason, Google is ending YouTube support for Android 6 smartphones.

If you are using an older Android phone and lose access to the YouTube app, you can still watch YouTube through its website using a browser. Another solution is to switch to a newer smartphone that supports the YouTube app.