Why Google’s Neglect of the YouTube TV App—Especially on Apple TV—is Inexcusable in 2025

In 2025, YouTube is a cornerstone of modern media consumption—a multibillion-dollar platform that dominates how people watch everything from tutorials and reviews to live events and full-length films. And yet, Google's handling of the YouTube app on TV platforms, especially Apple TV, borders on negligent. It’s baffling how one of the most powerful tech companies in the world can leave such a critical user experience in such disrepair.

Let’s start with the most fundamental failure: search. The YouTube app for Apple TV is a nightmare to navigate. In a platform built on the vast diversity of content, the lack of even basic search filters in 2025 is outright absurd. Want to search by upload date, duration, or relevance? Good luck. You're stuck scrolling endlessly through a flood of unrelated, algorithm-chosen results with no meaningful way to refine what you're looking for.

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And that leads to another glaring issue: the algorithmic black hole. Instead of empowering users to discover content they want, Google pushes a feed full of often irrelevant or repetitive recommendations, based on opaque logic that can't be easily adjusted or personalized. It’s a passive experience that actively stifles discovery, especially when you’re trying to use a shared TV rather than your personalized mobile app.

But the problems go deeper. Bugs plague the experience, including frequent UI freezes that force restarts, videos that fail to load, and laggy navigation that makes watching YouTube on your TV feel more like a chore than entertainment. And for those hoping to make search slightly more bearable using a Bluetooth keyboard—nope, still no support. In 2025. How is that even possible?

This isn’t just a minor app. YouTube is a media titan, a cultural force, and a massive revenue stream. Yet Google’s leadership continues to treat the living room experience—where families, roommates, and friends actually gather to watch—as an afterthought. That’s not just lazy product design. That’s strategic mismanagement.

If Google truly wants YouTube to remain the future of video, it needs to stop treating TV users like second-class citizens. A platform this powerful deserves better—and so do its users.