[YouTube] "Sign in to confirm..."/"Watch on the latest version..."

[zestygrass]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Affected version

0.27.0

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Attempt to play any video
2. Video does not play
3. Page shows "Content unavailable" page

Expected behavior

Video should play.

Actual behavior

Video does not play.

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Logs

Exception

• User Action: requested stream
• Request: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXQOpChgksI
• Content Country: GB
• Content Language: en-GB
• App Language: en_GB_#u-fw-mon-mu-celsius
• Service: YouTube
• Version: 0.27.0
• OS: Linux Android 14 - 34

Crash log

org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.exceptions.ContentNotAvailableException: Got error: "Sign in to confirm that you're not a bot"
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.checkPlayabilityStatus(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:948)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.onFetchPage(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:844)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.Extractor.fetchPage(Extractor.java:60)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:77)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:72)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.lambda$getStreamInfo$3(ExtractorHelper.java:118)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.$r8$lambda$YTHJjScxCJNO1LTCqs3IKy35iyY(ExtractorHelper.java:0)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper$$ExternalSyntheticLambda3.call(R8$$SyntheticClass:0)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleFromCallable.subscribeActual(SingleFromCallable.java:43)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleDoOnSuccess.subscribeActual(SingleDoOnSuccess.java:35)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeFromSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeFromSingle.java:41)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.drain(MaybeConcatArray.java:153)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.request(MaybeConcatArray.java:78)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe$ElementAtSubscriber.onSubscribe(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:66)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray.subscribeActual(MaybeConcatArray.java:42)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Flowable.subscribe(Flowable.java:16144)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe.subscribeActual(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:36)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeToSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeToSingle.java:46)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleSubscribeOn$SubscribeOnObserver.run(SingleSubscribeOn.java:89)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Scheduler$DisposeTask.run(Scheduler.java:644)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.run(ScheduledRunnable.java:65)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.call(ScheduledRunnable.java:56)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
	at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:307)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:644)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1012)

---

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

Android 14

Affected device model

Google Pixel 6

Additional information

I could replicate this issue on LibreTube and Grayjay.

[AudricV]

Can you reproduce this issue if you try to watch on youtube.com logged out with the same IP as the one you got this on NewPipe?

[zestygrass]

Yup, tried to play the same video on youtube.com, asks for login.

I am using a vpn, which has not been an issue before today, I will try without the vpn and report back

Edit: Video's play without any issue in newpipe when vpn is off. No longer asks for login

[zestygrass]

Bit of an update, I tried a different vpn server in the same region, newpipe works without asking for login for now on these servers.

[davidasunmo]

@AudricV So, is this still a bug or not? If google doesn't like the IP from a VPN for some reason, is it NewPipe's responsibility to try and circumvent that, or is that the responsibility of the user?

[Japhys]

I have been experiencing the same since two days or so. Never happened before. But when I open the video in my browser it does not ask me to login.

[opusforlife2]

This is a network-wide problem. Invidious and Piped (and several others) are also facing the same issue.

[chayleaf]

embeds still work without logging in, but not with a 100% chance

[ladfrombrad]

https://lemdro.id/post/9678087

Same for me, is very odd.

[NoahJelen]

I had an issue similar to this many years when tinkering with a Wireguard VPN on Linode. If you're using a commercial VPN or running a VPN system with a VPS (ex: Linode, Digital Ocean), YouTube thinks you're a robot (and forces a login) because the of the data center between YouTube and your device.

[anoraktrend]

I commented on the Oauth for Subscriptions feature request, but allowing users to sign in via oauth might be the only permanent solution for this issue.

[indomara]

I have this issue as well, without a vpn. Videos will not play, feed will not load. If I open the video on youtube it plays without being logged in. Thank you to everyone who spends their time on this project, I very much appreciate you.

[NoahJelen]

I commented on the Oauth for Subscriptions feature request, but allowing users to sign in via oauth might be the only permanent solution for this issue.

Is there a way we could have spoof accounts, similar to how the Aurora Store scrapes Google Play?

[opusforlife2]

Is there a way we could have spoof accounts, similar to how the Aurora Store scrapes Google Play?

Piped, via Libretube.

[TodorovicSrdjan]

I was able to fix this with forced stop and clearing cache. This might help with the throubleshooting.

EDIT: by "fix", I meant that it would allow me to continue watching video. It is not as convenient as it was, but at least I'm still able to use youtube throught NewPipe.

[TodorovicSrdjan]

I was able to fix this with forced stop and clearing cache. This might help with the throubleshooting.

EDIT: by "fix", I meant that it would allow me to continue watching video. It is not as convenient as it was, but at least I'm still able to use youtube throught NewPipe.

Can someone explain to me why this works and why we can't take advantage of this behaviour?

Is it some kind of IP rate limiting? Does this has something to do with the cookies? (seems like it since it works when I clear the cache and create new app process).

Sorry if this is unrelated and unnecessary comment. I'm just trying to help if I can so we can resolve the issue as fast as possible 😇

[tag27]

Can someone explain to me why this works and why we can't take advantage of this behaviour?

I don't know how it worked in your case, since the problem has to do with IP (Even official YouTube instances are affected).

[rchltmedia-codeviewer]

i had the same issue while using cell data from IM3 Indosat. the issue did not present on wi-fi & telkomsel.

(indosat and telkomsel is the indonesian cell provider)

[TheRedCyclops]

I was able to fix this with forced stop and clearing cache. This might help with the throubleshooting.

EDIT: by "fix", I meant that it would allow me to continue watching video. It is not as convenient as it was, but at least I'm still able to use youtube throught NewPipe.

Can someone explain to me why this works and why we can't take advantage of this behaviour?

Is it some kind of IP rate limiting? Does this has something to do with the cookies? (seems like it since it works when I clear the cache and create new app process).

Sorry if this is unrelated and unnecessary comment. I'm just trying to help if I can so we can resolve the issue as fast as possible 😇

I think there are two separate issues, one where it's loading in the browser but not in NewPipe and another one where the stream is blocked both in the browser and NewPipe, probably on an IP basis. This seems to be a workaround when it's the first case.

[tizbac]

On our ISP we have 3x /24 and a /48 IPv6 blocked , or perhaps whole ASN, over 2 months now

[TodorovicSrdjan]

Update on my end. Few day after I mentioned the trick with cache, I experienced the same issue like everyone else. I thought Newpipe and every other similar attempt to use yt without account is dead. But then I changed location and now I didn't have issue playing videos. None of them were blocked.

I think that my first IP might be flagged because it was pooling for subscribed channel updates, 150+ channels. Could that be an indicator for them to block the address?

Sudden visit of 100+ channels in few seconds, over some period of time (weeks probably) could be an indicator that someone is using Newpipe.

When I get home, I'll have to check how videos on TV could be played when the public IP was the same. YT app on it could play any video, if I recall it correctly. If everything is blocked on NewPipe (and similar apps) and it plays videos on TV just fine then maybe it is not IP related (or at least it is not blocked only by IP).

[TodorovicSrdjan]

BTW, it seems to me, that I get this message only when I am 'binge-watching' a playlist. Either when I watch some bits, or even several short videos of +5min each (no Shorts itself!), I get this message. However, when I watch several videos for longer than +10min each, I do not get this error message, even on a local (active?) VPN server. Otherwise I have to hope merely to another country with the official VPN app of my provider, and/or restart the app (no forced restart!), and off I go (again)...

@86ul I think that my issues with NewPipe began like that. First few videos got blocked. I didn't pay much attention to it. Then it would play one video at a time, just like you said. I'd then delete cache after watching that one video and it would work for few videos afterwards.

In the last stage, almost every video was blocked, no matter what you do.

There are some exceptions tho. Those are probably videos which are not age-restricted nor copyrighted. For example, official channel of an artist is blocked, but reuploads and recorded live performances could be played in some cases.

That's what I observed but idk, I'll also have to check that and confirm the theory.

[daboudii]

Just got a way to watch a "Sign in to confirm...." by using the wayback machine from Internet Archive, can it be a weird by pass for older video with the age restriction ? Of course this won't work for recent one

[0Karakurt0]

Sudden visit of 100+ channels in few seconds, over some period of time (weeks probably) could be an indicator that someone is using Newpipe.

480 channels here, and it still works fine on mobile connection. But I get blocked on home WiFi :/
Although I think it may be beneficial anyway to implement asynchronous channel updates and some logic to stretch it over time while in background.

[RelotiusFanboy007]

I am also getting hit with "Sign in to confirm...." since a few days with my home ISP.
There is one thing:
I have a Pi that creates a Wifi AP for some IoT devices. When I am connected to the Pi I dont get the "Sign in to confirm....". How is that possible? Sitting behind a NAT changes things for google?

[smellymoo]

Use PipePipe instead, a fork of newpipe. Devs are less hostile and actually have this feature.

[mycodedoesnotcompile2]

Will this "Sign in to confirm" nasty bug ever be fixed some days ?

[tizbac]

It Is unfixable , I started having glitches also when signed in on the browser , video sometimes getting stuck or not loading at all. We will try to contact them by fax next week Il sab 11 gen 2025, 11:17 mycodedoesnotcompile2 ***@***.***> ha scritto:

…

Will this "Sign in to confirm" nasty bug ever be fixed some days ? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#11139 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABBV6S3XSH7JIHAKEARVU32KDVTXAVCNFSM6AAAAABI6MD57OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKOBVGE4TGOBQGM> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>