The official YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 has been the center of controversy between Microsoft and Google as of late. Back in August, Microsoft re-released the official YouTube app for Windows Phone in “collaboration” with Google, after Google had taken down the app due to policy violations. Google eventually blocked the app yet again. Now, Microsoft has rolled out a new update to the app, offering a barebones experience, effectively giving up in the battle against Google.
The new update brings YouTube for WP8 to version 3.2. This app now utilizes the old web-player, so when you click a YouTube link via an email, text message, or via your browser, you will be taken to the internet browser to see the video instead of watching the video within the app. In fact, launching the app pretty much takes you to the mobile YouTube website. No more cool advanced features like notifications and account management.
“Google needed to be more flexible with providing the necessary APIs.”
To recap: Back in May of this year, Microsoft rolled out a brand new official YouTube app for Windows Phone 8. The app received much heat due to the fact that the app had the ability to skip ads and download videos, a violation of Google/YouTube’s terms of use.
Eventually, Google caught wind of this and issued a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the software giant, urging them to remove the YouTube app from the Windows Phone Store.
Microsoft responded to that letter stating that the devices and services giant was “more than happy” to comply but Google needed to be more flexible with providing the necessary APIs. Microsoft then rolled out another update to the YouTube app for Windows Phone 8, complying to most of Google’s requests, but not all of them. Finally, Microsoft and Google reached an understanding and were both working together to create a new YouTube app.
Fast forward to August 13th, the official app was re-released for download. “We’ve released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads,” Microsoft had stated.
Microsoft also appreciated Google’s support in “ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience” and the company looked forward to continuing the collaboration between the two companies.
Google then pulled the app again stating that, “Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service. It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.”
Now one can argue that Microsoft gave up on fighting Google over the matter. However, one can also argue that Microsoft was simply fed up playing Google’s game and simply didn’t feel like elongating the issue between the two companies over the app.
The updated app is available for download now and we’ve added the download link for you below. Sounds like we will have to stick to third-party alternatives like MetroTube to enjoy YouTube on our Windows Phone 8 devices.
Further reading: Google, Microsoft, Windows Phone, YouTube
