Channels & viewing

[MrMark]

Yes, it works better with the primary Google ID, but even then it is still broken.  And my brand channels are quite different, so it would be an epic mess to combine them, even if it is possible to do so.  If you find a work-around that isn't terrible, please let me know!

[wannaknow]

Lizette, I think you're onto something....I just signed in with my Google ID & as you said, everything works as it should!!!....YAY!!!...

Now if there was a way to share all my subscriptions etc. between my 2 id's, it would be just great!!!...

Thanks so much for mentioning about the Google ID....I'm a happy camper!!...

[MrMark]

Sadly, there is no way so share anything across different YouTube brand channels

[wannaknow]

That's what I suspected MrMark....

Guess I'll look on it as a chance to weed out some of my subscriptions, live cams etc., as I move them over....lol...

[MrMark]

That seems quite impossible for any YouTube content creator, because one must be using a specific brand ID in order to create the content in the first place.  And say for example, I don't want my personal interest in cars to get mixed in with the video editing work that I do for piano lessons..  But I do admire your lack of concern!

[Fretman]

I just got the Roku Streaming Stick+ model and installed the Youtube app.  I am also having the same issue where the Watch and Search history is not saving the content.  This happens when I'm accessing the Youtube app via Roku, my television, or my Blu-ray player.  However, as someone mentioned, if I use my non-branded account, I don't have these issues.  I do not have this issue when using the Youtube app via my IOS tablet or laptop.

I am thinking this might have something to do with the latest Youtube update.  A few weeks ago, I was not able to access Youtube via my television.  It would just freeze on the logo screen.  Up to that point, the History content was still being saved.  A few days later, I was able to get past the frozen logo screen.  At that point, the History content was no longer being saved.

If and when someone notices that this issue is fixed, please post back to this topic to let everyone know.  Thanks.

[MrMark]

One might imagine that this is the over-powerful Google demonstrating that they don't care about making it work right on any device where the the manufacturer of that device doesn't bow down to Google.  Or maybe Google knows that Apple will sue them again if they fail to make it work on Apple devices...kind of like an evaluation of threat level.  Apple's revenue for last quarter was $366 billion.  Roku's was $680 million (0.68 billion).  'Probably not scary enough to Google.  If a company doesn't either bow down or have have sufficient monetary and political might, then then Google does what bullies do.

[Psilobite]

Here's the state of things:

Search history will work on a brand account in the YouTube Roku app, using these steps:

1) Reset the app (Settings -> Reset app)

2) Go to upper left "Sign In"

3) "Sign in with your phone" -> "Try another way"

4) Do not go to the URL shown, instead go to youtube.com/activate and enter the code

5) Select the brand account you want to sign in with on Roku, not your main Google account

6) Done!

Under "Accounts" (upper left), you will see your brand account... on the right part of the screen, you should see a "fake" e-mail address that ends in pages.plusgoogle.com.

Search history is working properly with a brand account signed in to the YouTube Roku app in this way. Unfortunately, starting today, you are no longer able to view age restricted videos when signed in this way to a brand account in the YouTube Roku app, even if your brand account is age-verified.

If you want, you can do an "Add account" and this time, on step 5, select your primary Google account. This will automatically add your Primary Google ID/email, and all associated brand accounts to the Roku app. They will appear under your primary main Google e-mail address. When you select one of these brand accounts, it will have **no** e-mail address on the right part of the screen. This will not affect the "brand only" sign-in that you did above... that appears separately, and again, has a "fake" e-mail address that ends in pages.plusgoogle.com. You can view age restricted videos when using brand accounts that appear under your main Google e-mail. However, when signed in this way, there is still the unsolved, ongoing issue of search history not appearing and watch history not updating. You will see "top" searches in the app's "search" section ("flame" icons) instead of your personal search history ("clock" icons).

I started a thread on Google support, but I don't have any confidence that it will do any good.

Hopes this helps some people...

[MrMark]

First of all, thank you!  Secondly, how the heck did you figure that out?

I had to try it for myself, and it certainly does produce a different result.  I see both search and watch history, so that's nice.  But then within a few minutes, I needed to watch a live stream associated with a different brand channel, so the whole idea kind of fell apart at that moment.  The very reason for brand channels is to organize different interests, so not being able to switch between them may be worse than not being able to see history.

But I appreciate your ability to discover this work-around...perhaps it will be enough for some people.

Meanwhile, the Roku I was testing on seems to have lost it's ability to stay connected to the iPhone app, which killed the option to listen via AirPods.  I have no idea if this new problem is related to this particular way of signing in, but I intend to change it back and see what happens.  There are so many Roku issues that I'm ready to give up on it.

[Psilobite]

I only have one brand account, so I can't test, but...

If you follow the steps I listed (skip steps 1 and 2 and do an "Add account" instead), when you get to step 5, you should be able to select a different brand account, then add it to the app, and it should appear with the pages.plusgoogle.com e-mail.

If it doesn't work, try resetting the app, and starting at step 1, add all of your brand accounts, before you add your primary Google account. ("Sign in" first time, "Add account" to add more brand accounts.)

If you're like me and had a YouTube account before Google bought YouTube, your YouTube account got turned into a "brand" account. So for me, I have tons of favorites, playlists, watch history, search history, comments, etc. all on that "brand" account.

It is possible to move the brand account to a new Google account, and just make it a primary Google account. But doing this will clear/reset watch and search history, and it will also "reset" comments to the new account, which now starts with zero comment history. All of your old comments posted to YouTube will still be there, but you will forever lose access to them, as well as getting updates when anyone replies to any of your old comments. I've been surprised to see someone reply to a comment I made in 2010 that I barely even remember making.