Unable to login Youtube

[Jlwine]

We stopped at a super charger today, so I thought I’d try just for the heck of it and low and behold logged right in via the built in YouTube app, along with 2 factor authentication on my iPhone. Last time I tried a few weeks ago, could not It log on. I had not tried since 2021.4.15 installed a couple weeks ago, so thought maybe that fixed it?

The same thing happened to me this evening. After trying several times at home with no success Friday and Saturda, I stopped by a Tesla charger and tried to log into YouTube again, and this time it let me. Don’t know if it was because I was on Tesla’s cellular connection and not WiFi or just a coincidence. Hopefully, I stayed logged and and hopefully Tesla addtesses this small issue that is not small to many owners.

 

[PatInANutshell]

None of these tricks worked for me, so here’s how I fixed it (with some additional steps specific to me).

- To avoid having someone read my emails if I ever forget to sign out, I created a new Gmail account, but this isn’t strictly necessary. It did help with a next step.
- I invited my new account via family sharing so it can access YouTube TV
- After signing into my Gmail account on a different device, search for « Google less secure app ». By default, this will be turned off. Turn that on.
- In my Tesla browser, I tried signing into my account and it worked.

 

[PatInANutshell]

None of these tricks worked for me, so here’s how I fixed it (with some additional steps specific to me).

- To avoid having someone read my emails if I ever forget to sign out, I created a new Gmail account, but this isn’t strictly necessary. It did help with a next step.
- I invited my new account via family sharing so it can access YouTube TV
- After signing into my Gmail account on a different device, search for « Google less secure app ». By default, this will be turned off. Turn that on.
- In my Tesla browser, I tried signing into my account and it worked.

Here’s a few additional tips:
- You can accesss YouTube TV via the Apps icon in the top-right corner (looks like a grid icon, this isn’t really super obvious at first)
- Some channels require you to verify your location, but location is not a feature the Tesla browser apparently supports. To work around that, use the YouTube TV app while you’re in the Location menu under your account. You should see « waiting for mobile app… » or something similar.

 

[Zacster]

I just discovered the problem myself when I got a little bored at the supercharger. It isn't that big an issue though is it? You can still watch, you just can't get to your own stuff. YT is just a time suck anyway. On my account at my computer it somehow lost all history of my searching for Tesla videos. They are no longer recommended even though that is the main thing I've been looking for on YT for the last few months. And what I've always thought about "recommended" videos is that they are self-fulfilling. They recommend them, you watch them, and then the algorithm suggests them even more. I watched a Japan tsunami video, and then another when it came up and before I knew it all I saw on my page was tsunami videos. It takes months to make them go away unless you purposely start purging your history. I have since turned off history tracking in any case, maybe that's why the Tesla videos disappeared.

 

[israndy]

Well, some of us have YouTube Premium and would like access to it. Yes, if you follow the links they can take you down a rabbit hole as all the QAnon users have proved. But it allows you to discover videos that you are not subscribed to but may be of interest. Several of the content makers I follow I discovered that way.

You just need to realize when you are wasting time and when you are actually enjoying the content.

 

[Lightbulb]

I’m so glad you guys updated this thread.
It made me go and check my Tesla and wouldn’t ya know, I can sign into YouTube and access all my history and purchased shows and movies. This will be super nice for supercharging/camping

It works!!

 

[arnolddeleon]

I was able to just straight login to my Youtube premium account but I had to disable my second factor. The Tesla would get stuck asking me to insert my security key. I tried inserting it but it looks like it doesn't have support for Yubikeys. I've re-enabled MFA on my account and we will see if it will make me login again. I've added back in to my MFA Google Authenticator so I'm hoping if does want a second factor I will have another option that will work.

 

[Captflash]

I can’t sign in to YouTube either. Like you, I get the same error message saying YouTube can’t verify the browser and that I should use a different browser, which, of course, I can’t do. Netflix and all the other apps work well.

I got through to Tesla Support via their chat function. The support assistant said they were aware of the problem and that she would send me a “fix” via email. I have received nothing. I’ve not been able to get through using chat again. Frustrating.

 

[israndy]

The "fix" was to block your account from asking YouTube questions

 

[israndy]

I did try the trick of opening a NEW google account, and that works JUST FINE. If there was a migrate my stuff to the new account I might even go with that. I then opened my new account in Firefox and my old one in Safari so I could compare the settings side by side. Even turned off 2 Factor Authentication. Didn't see any differences between the accounts, other than I was logged into 5 devices on the one and just the one device on the other.

 

[Zacster]

I saw one setting on Google "Less secure app access" and I turned on to allow access. I then went to my car and no dice, neither in Youtube nor in signing onto Google in the browser. I don't have 2 factor turned on either. Still, no big deal. I hadn't had an urge to watch YT in the car in the 5 months I've had it until the other day. Maybe by the next time I try in another 5 months they'll have fixed it. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Lightbulb]

Damnn I was hoping it was fixed for everything. I tried everything that was suggested in this thread and then some and finally gave up. I don’t know at what point it worked again but when i tried 2 days ago it worked. Didn’t ask for anything other than email and password. No two factor or questions

I was on wifi, not sure if that makes a difference

 

[arnolddeleon]

I should add that I verified that my logged in session so far as stayed logged in after re-enabled MFA on my account.

I did notice what other key difference, my YouTube premium account is not gmail.com address it is a G suite account in my own domain. I noticed that when I went to try login to my YouTube TV account (which uses a gmail.com account because YouTube TV doesn't support family sharing with G suite accounts) I got the insecure browser error.

The other thing I realized I did (by accident) was I used the browser via globe icon not the YouTube "app" in the Theater section to login to YouTube. I did confirm that the "app" is also logged into my account now.

 

[Dry Mass]

I was frustrated with these same issues during first two weeks with my new car, then with persistence I found some reasonable workarounds:

Rather than use my own Google account which the car refused to sign in, instead I created a new dedicated Google Account for the car, (without 2FA). This logged in first time in the car, without issue, an remains logged in since. Also works with several other Google apps.

I also discovered that I can open up a YouTube video on my phone and select 'Send to...' - 'Tesla', then it will play on the car screen (like Chromecast).

It would be nice if Tesla fix the problem though!