By Gavin Boyle
A new update to the YouTube app makes it too advanced to run on older Apple devices, including the iPhone 7 and original SE along with the iPad Air 2 and mini 4.
“iPhone or iPad apps can become unresponsive if app or operating system versions are out of date, device memory is low, or the network is unreliable. An app with issues might not open or can quit unexpectedly, become sluggish, stop responding, or appear to freeze,” Apple explains on its website.
In this case, the operating system of the devices no longer capable of running the YouTube app is too out of date and can’t be updated any further. While there is no workaround to get the YouTube app running again, users of these devices can still access the platform by going to YouTube.com on an internet browser.
This update comes as YouTube forges ahead to create new user experiences. In April the platform celebrated its 20-year anniversary, and the company’s CEO Neal Mohan announced new features in the works. These include more multi-view options, embedded ads and the ability to make purchases directly on the website.
*whispers* hey…it’s our 20th birthday
— YouTube (@YouTube) April 23, 2025
“For more and more people, watching TV means watching YouTube. Viewers are watching, on average, over 1 billion hours of YouTube content on TVs daily, and TV is now the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S.,” Mohan wrote in a February blog post. “But the ‘new’ television doesn’t look like the ‘old’ television. It’s interactive and including things like Shorts, podcasts, and live streams, right alongside sports, sitcoms and talk shows people already love.”
Related: YouTube Celebrates 20 Years — And Announces Exciting Upcoming Features
YouTube has also offered an increasing suite of tools for creators, such as a newly released ability to create AI-generated music and videos.
“Today, Dream Screen is getting another major upgrade with the integration of Google DeepMind’s newest video generation model, Veo 2, making it more powerful than ever,” YouTube said in February. “And we’re also now launching a new capability powered by Veo 2: generating standalone video clips that you can add to any of your Shorts. Need a specific scene but don’t have the right footage? Want to turn your imagination into reality and tell a unique story? Simply use a text prompt to generate a video clip that fits perfectly into your narrative, or create a whole new world of content. It’s that easy!”
Do you hate when technology forces you to change your device?
While the future of YouTube is certainly exciting, unfortunately the ever increasing power of the platform inevitably leaves older devices behind.
Read Next: Is Your YouTube Experience About to Totally Change?
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