YouTube "Device Support" videos showing in all YouTube activity feeds

holyoak.comholyoak.com
edited April 2015 in General Discussion
I have a video showing up in all my YouTube video activities with the title "" If the video is played, it says in many different languages that YouTube is being upgraded and the device or app being used will no longer be supported.

This obviously doesn't look good. If you go to that page, it appears it's intended for older TV-connected devices and any Android app other than the official YouTube app.

Comments

  • lornelorne
    What kind of device are you testing on? I've never seen that page, but
    it sounds like it could be related to the YouTube app on
    your device needing to be updated.
  • holyoak.comholyoak.com
    It's a Nexus 4. It's got the latest version of Android (5.1) and it doesn't show an update available for the YouTube app.

    It appears as a video in every video playlist, dated April 17.


  • lornelorne
    It's actually related to the v2 API shutting down, so we'll need to change how some of the settings work in the YouTube activity.
  • InsplisityInsplisity
    edited May 2015
    I've tested the YouTube activity in my app on Galaxy Note 3 (Android 4.4.2) and on Genymotion's Nexus 4 with Android 5.0. Thankfully, I didn't see any issues with the videos yet.

    Nevertheless, this is quite important and I can imagine a lot of upset users, if they would not see the videos. @Lorne, if possible, please keep this on your priority list and if necessary, release a smaller update which would fix this issue.

    Thanks!
  • meoldTestmeoldTest
    Yes, this issue is definitely top priority for us right now. We're looking at it right now.
  • clwydianclwydian
    Im not getting any youtube videos listed after april 19.
  • clwydianclwydian
    edited May 2015
    dupe
  • lornelorne
    Here is a workaround that you might want to take advantage of.

    There is a new URL format that you can use to retrieve RSS feed data, but only for some types of YouTube queries:


    ...replacing the capitalized parts like "PLAYLIST_ID" with the actual playlist id.

    Note: you can make use of these URLs in Andromo with the "YouTube RSS Feed" option.

    There are some limitations:
    • it's severely rate limited: "Query it more than a few times in a row and you'll start getting empty responses."
    • it's limited to 15 videos per query (gdata returned 25 items by default, and you could increase it to 50)
    • there is no new URL to perform a search query, unfortunately

  • cqcqcqcq
    Google rejected a new app of mine because I used the Youtube activity. I just tried Lorne's work-around and plugged my playlist ID into the RSS activity. It works but with some limitations and concerns.
    1. It only came back with 15 of the 20 videos in my list as he predicted.
    2. It requires the user to click on a secondary screen with a "Go To Original Article" button before it will proceed.
    3. Worst of all, how can I know if Google won't reject it anyway and kick me out of the store for trying to do an end run on Youtube?
  • holyoak.comholyoak.com
    How do you know they rejected it because of the YouTube activity? I have a bunch of apps that use it, and never had any problems with Google Play. Since it uses YouTube's app to play the videos, there shouldn't be any problems.

    And since they've fixed the activity, you shouldn't have to use the workaround (unless you need to use a channel id, since that's apparently not (yet?) part of the new activity version).
  • cqcqcqcq
    Here is an email verbatim from Google. I just submitted my app today and one hour later I received this message. My app is free and has ads.

    This is a notification that your application submission, TV Memories, for package ID com.andromo.dev260217.app400188,
    has been rejected. If this submission was an update to an existing app,
    the version published prior to this update is still available on Google
    Play.

    Please address the issue described below, then submit an update with your changes.

    REASON FOR REJECTION:Violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement.

    After a regular review, we have determined that your app downloads,
    monetizes, or otherwise accesses YouTube videos in violation of the YouTube Terms of Service or YouTube API Terms of Service.
    Accessing content, a product, or service in an unauthorized manner is a
    violation of the Developer Distribution Agreement, and is not allowed
    on Google Play.

    All submission rejections are tracked. Repeated
    rejections due to policy violations will result in app suspension, at
    which point this app will count as a strike against the good standing of
    your developer account and no longer be available on Google Play.

    This notification also serves as notice for other apps in your
    catalog. You can avoid future submission rejections and/or app
    suspensions by immediately ensuring that no other apps in your catalog
    are in violation of (but not limited to) the above policy. Before
    publishing applications, please ensure your apps’ compliance with the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policy.

    If you feel we have made this determination in error, you can visit this Google Play Help Center article.

    The Google Play Team


  • holyoak.comholyoak.com
    Sorry, I hadn't realized they were picky about ads. I've never used ads in an app with YouTube activities because the user leaves the app and doesn't really get to see the ads much. I also now realize you were saying you were using the workaround because you were trying to get around this problem.

    My guess is that if they don't like the ads they won't care what method you use for the list of videos. Have you considered selling the app instead?
  • InsplisityInsplisity
    I was about to upload one of my apps with mainly YT activities (an old app from back when they didn't care so much about this stuff), but now I'm a bit hesitant to.

    @cqcq: What kind of videos did you include in your app? My app uses amateur videos and some commercial videos. I'll probably just take it down or upload it without ads, if now that's a problem.
  • colinadamscolinadams
    We released a new version of Andromo on Friday May 15, 2015 that includes support for YouTube's new v3 API:

    http://blog.andromo.com/2015/andromo-app-maker-for-android-v4-2-0-released/

    @cqcq - You read Lorne's instructions incorrectly. You should not be using the 'RSS Activity' to display YouTube videos. You should only use the 'YouTube Activity'. Google does not allow you to show ads on the same page as a YouTube video, which is why we launch any videos using the official YouTube app - as long as you are using the YouTube Activity.


  • InsplisityInsplisity
    edited May 2015
    Does this mean we can use ads in our apps even if we feature other people's videos? I never used RSS for video feeds, only the YT Activity.
  • cqcqcqcq
    Let me make this as clear as possible. I used the Youtube activity not RSS. I created the app under Andromo 4.2. I tested the app and there are no ads showing along with the video. Yet Google rejected the app with a stern warning to me. It appears that they have new rules and don't want any app to fetch any video from Youtube under any circumstance that has some form of monetization. My app is free but has ads. Once again, the ads appear elsewhere in my app but not when displaying my Youtube playlist.
  • colinadamscolinadams
    @cqcq - If you have ads disabled, then my best guess is that Google doesn't think that the videos in your app 'TV Memories' are yours to use. If they are yours, or you have a case to make, you should contact Google for clarification. We are not Google or YouTube and therefore having us reinterpret their policies for you isn't going to be a very useful.

    In the end, it's up to you to make sure you are compliant with Google Play and YouTube's policies. I have never heard of anyone's app being rejected for using their own content. On the other hand, if your app 'TV Memories' is embedding what I imagine are copyrighted television clips, I'm sure you can imagine what their issue is.
  • cqcqcqcq
    Here is an update to the problem I had regarding the use of the You Tube activity. As I reported, Google rejected my app (TV Memories) because it seemed to violate their rule about ads on You Tube. I appealed and they reversed themselves and permitted my app to be published. Great news! A new problem has emerged however. Even though the activity works fine in beta, if you download the Play Store version (it's free) you get a "YouTube Data Error (99)" message after it displays only one of the twenty items on my playlist. I can find no info on what that means. I can ask Google but wonder if any on you have an answer to that.
  • cqcqcqcq
    Problem solved. I examined my playlist and discovered that they had just recently deleted three of the clips for various reasons. I substituted three others and the app works fine now. You may, from time to time, want to make certain that if you use the YouTube activity that the videos you are calling are still there.
  • lornelorne
    The error number shown between brackets is our own internal error code, so you won't be able to find anything online about it (unless Google has started indexing Darryl's brain). (99) is "error unknown" which basically means that YouTube reported an error that we don't have another more specific error code for.
  • InsplisityInsplisity
    @cqcq: Wow, that's awesome to hear!! Congrats on your success and thanks for sharing the positive news.
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