Many Fire TV owners are reporting that the “Subscription” and “Library” tabs in the navigation menu of the YouTube app have suddenly gone missing. The same thing is happening on Rokus, LG and Samsung smart TVs, Xbox and Playstation gaming consoles, and other TV platforms, so the issue is widespread and not restricted to Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks. Some have had success in restoring the missing tabs by logging out or switching accounts, but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive fix for the issue.
The YouTube app on virtually every TV platform is essentially just a web browser that loads a web interface for YouTube that is optimized for TVs. You used to be able to access the same web-based TV interface at youtube.com/tv, but that access was shut down back in 2019. YouTube apps essentially just being a web interface is why an issue like this one has affected so many different devices simultaneously.
There’s no point in uninstalling the YouTube app, or worse, factory resetting your Fire TV to try to resolve the issue since it’s clearly something happening on YouTube’s side. YouTube has been trying to de-emphasize the subscription feed for years to push users towards the Home feed, where they have more control over what is listed. Hopefully, the removal of the Subscription and Library tabs is actually a bug and not an experiment by YouTube to further push the Home feed. I’ve reached out to YouTube and will update this article if I learn more, but, for now, all you can do is wait it out and hope that the tabs are restored on YouTube’s end. Clearing the YouTube app’s cache, under Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications > YouTube, may help get you the fix sooner, once it’s available.
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Both tabs present here Elias, and all subscriptions present and correct, and history in Library. I’m in the UK so maybe it’s just certain YouTube servers?
I’m in the UK too, and both tabs have been gone since yesterday (Thur 15 April). Very annoying.
Very odd indeed. I’m still using the original Generation 1 Fire TV box which is still on Fire OS 5.2.7.4, so whether that has any relevance….
Missing tabs reappeared some 48 hrs after going AWOL :-)
Great, thanks for the update!
I am having this issue since this morning. My account is missing several tabs while my wife’s account works fine. So it is an account bug and not an app bug.
How about using the ad-free Smart YouTube TV app from GitHub as an alternative to the default Google YT app?
Just had. The same problem here libraries completely disappeared from the tabs on the left-hand side.
In us this just happened to me, im pissed. Bout to go RWDS on google.
Just happened to us on fire tv.
It’s happening to me now I think maybe they want to make us get their tv app idk very frustrating