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How-To: Stop the ‘Open this page in YouTube’ prompt when visiting YouTube in Safari on iOS

Open this page in YouTube Fix

If you have the YouTube app installed on your phone, then you’ve likely run into the dreaded ‘Open this page in “YouTube”?’ message when visiting YouTube in Safari. While it’s understandable that Google would like you to view content via its official app, it starts to get annoying after encountering the message for the umpteenth time.

One surefire way to eliminate the prompt is to uninstall the YouTube app altogether, but that’s a bit on the extreme side of things. Fortunately, there is a way to easily bypass the request, as we’ll show you inside.

Why would you want to open a YouTube page directly in Safari instead of the dedicated YouTube app? The reason is that some advanced settings and functionality aren’t yet offered within the official app. This is especially applicable to creators wishing to open the YouTube Creator Studio page, view the dashboard, etc. Although the YouTube Creator Studio app has come a very long way since its debut, there may still remain instances where a creator wishes to view the web-based version instead.

The first way to get around this request is to simply be persistent. After you see the initial Open this page in “YouTube”? prompt, tap the Cancel button, enter the same URL again, and tap Go. The page will then open in Safari without prompting you to open the YouTube app.

When you submit the request a second time, as instructed above, the mobile web version of YouTube is loaded instead. You can tell this by the “m” subdomain prefixed in the URL. With this in mind, it’s entirely possible to open a YouTube URL in Safari and bypass any prompts by browsing directly to the mobile version of a desired YouTube page or channel. In other words, instead of browsing to https://youtube.com/c/9to5Mac/ you go to https://m.youtube.com/c/9to5Mac/.

Video walkthrough

If you wish to open the desktop version of YouTube in mobile Safari, just tap and hold on Safari’s refresh button, and select Request Desktop Site. You may be prompted to open the YouTube app again, and if so, simply repeat the same steps to force the desktop version of YouTube to open in Safari instead.

Keep in mind that if you decide to use Google Chrome, you won’t have to deal with the “Open in YouTube” pop up messages. In fact, I find that using Chrome results in a better overall experience when viewing YouTube from a web browser. What about you?

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Comments

  1. MF DEAN (@deandmx) - 8 years ago

    Trouble is the app plays video in much higher quality.

    • Björn Olsson - 8 years ago

      Exactly this. I ALWAYS want videos to open in the app instead of the browser.

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      Yes, but as I stated in the post, it’s not about playing video, it’s about being able to access administrative portions of YouTube that aren’t accessible via the app. For playing videos, yes, definitely use the app :)

    • standardpull - 8 years ago

      Google could fix this if they wanted to. But Google strongly entices users to use the YouTube app, as the app isn’t subject to Web privacy controls and deeply tracks users in concert with the other Google Apps installed on the same device (All Google apps use the same signature, and therefore can share tracking tokens).

      And so YouTube users end up with this awful mix of wanting to use the Web UI and the App UI, where both are purposefully flawed.

  2. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    This is unrelated, but why is AAPL stock going up?

  3. applewatch20152015 - 8 years ago

    How is Chrome vs Safari overall? From a general browsing experience?

  4. Edison Wrzosek - 8 years ago

    NO Google app is EVER finding its way onto any of my iOS or OS X devices!

  5. I wish that there was a setting to use “Resquest Desktop Site” by default on the iPad Pro.

  6. el3v3nty - 8 years ago

    what. the. fuck. did i just watch? you can just uninstall youtube app on your iPad and voila! no more pop-ups if its annoying you.

    Moreover, voice and video are out of sync.

    Also, Safari > Chrome. for adblocking of course.

    Speaking of which, still waiting for pay-wall on 9to5mac to allow ad-free browsing like forbes.

    • el3v3nty - 8 years ago

      Sorry to be so dramatic, but its not a big deal to see that pop-up permissions.

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      Hi there. As I explained, not everyone wants to take the drastic measure of completely uninstalling an app that they might use. It’s not a one size fits all issue.

      • el3v3nty - 8 years ago

        1) if people ‘hate’ pop up notifications, enough to use chrome, they’d most definitely enjoy your ‘solution’ on this. (I agree chrome in this case has a better implementation but the pop is NOT on iOS side, it’s the Website pushing pop-ups.
        2) to verify this, try using Twitter in browser. And you’d never get that ‘pop-up permission dialogue box.

        In other words, Safari > Chrome and YouTube is the problem here, not iOS.

      • standardpull - 8 years ago

        There is no need to scare people: It is not a big deal to uninstall the YouTube app. I wouldn’t call it “drastic” in any way for the user. And if they miss it, they can always re-install it. Reinstalling the YouTube app is also very easy.

  7. So the ENTIRETY of this BS article was to press CANCEL? FFS, talk about click bait. Might be time to start thinking about getting rid of the 9to5 shortcut in this browser…

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      It’s not about “pressing cancel”, it’s about knowing what options you have to handle this issue. I’ve received no less than 15 emails over the last few months inquiring about this problem.

      Some people think that you must uninstall YouTube altogether to bypass this, when that’s not true. We should empathize with users, not berate them for not knowing what we personally may deem simple.

      True, it may have not been news to you, but believe me when I say that people *are* asking about this, and not just one or two.

      • Charlypollo - 8 years ago

        You are wasting your energy by replying to this clown that has made himself look like a fool more times than I can count. He’s like the court jester. You just watch him for entertainment purposes, bit you don’t speak to him.

    • Shyuan - 8 years ago

      I came to this article, and felt cheated :P

  8. George Pollen - 8 years ago

    The Youtube app also allows continuous, unmitigated tracking. The equivalent of browser cookies can’t be deleted from the Youtube app, as they can for Safari.

  9. ellzworth - 8 years ago

    I don’t think this has ever been a huge issue. The main issue I see most people complaining about (including myself) is when you click in a link to a youtube video why browsing Safari and the link automatically opens up the youtube app without even giving you a prompt. I just deleted Youtube since I couldn’t figure out a way to override this. How’s that for a challenge?

  10. beyondthetech - 8 years ago

    You’re probably referring to BGR with their ridiculous ads all over their site.

  11. Võ Hoàng Trà - 8 years ago

    The app gives the higher quality, the web version of youtube only gives max 720p. I hate to open youtube in the web. So this is stupid tweak. BTW: my ISP only provide high speed connect to youtube through app, not through web. So stupid tweak.

    • Paul Douglas - 8 years ago

      Did you read the article? This is mainly intended for doing things other than watching videos, such as accessing advanced settings and features for YouTube Creators.

  12. The Yamanator - 8 years ago

    Another reason why I prefer to use the web based Youtube is that it allows me to keep videos playing in the background on my iPhone. I can hide Safari and then resume the video from Control Center. One doesn’t always need to watch the video, but rather just listen to it…. you’re welcome.

  13. Matt Prather - 8 years ago

    In the first line in the article, “. . . then you’ve likely ran. . .” It should be “. . . “then you’ve likely run. . .” This is so because the participle of the verb “to run” is “run,” not “ran.” And, the way you have it written sounds wrong. Sheesh. ;)

  14. Oh, so if I want to do the other way around (open an already loaded link in the YouTube app) my only choice would be Chrome?

Author

Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Jeff Benjamin

Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.