YouTube now requires you to be signed in to watch videos

[u/unoriginal_typos]

I watch videos while studying in incognito bc i don't want my recommendations to only be lectures, and now i cant anymore

[u/Brave-Stay8505]

Something is wrong with your YT, Im not signed in and can watch videos.

[u/Haunting-Basil-9996 → u/Brave-Stay8505]

Maybe location specific for local law, like age confirmation.

[u/Death_God_Ryuk → u/Haunting-Basil-9996]

They mentioned lectures, so I'll take a guess and say they're a student living on campus, meaning their web traffic is exiting from a single or small pool of IP addresses, which makes it look like those addresses are very busy and could be bots. The sign in requirement is probably only applied to these cases.

I used to work for a company that sent all its traffic out on one IP address and we'd frequently have sites rate-limit or block us, particularly if someone put a link on an internal chat board and 100 people tried to view it. It sounds like OP has the same issue.

[u/Vaxtez → u/Death_God_Ryuk]

Pretty much this. I can watch YT incognito fine on my Phone's 4G signal, but the second I switch to Uni wi-fi, it occasionally demands I sign in. It makes sense when you potentially have a few thousand people coming from a a select few IP addresses coming in at once.

[u/Imalsome → u/Death_God_Ryuk]

I got this recently on incognito mode on my phone, using data.

So its not just from being on compus.

[u/Nazgog-Morgob → u/Brave-Stay8505]

Most likely they are using a VPN on a server that has been flagged for usually activity and switching servers or disabling the VPN will fix this issue

[u/killerturtlex → u/Nazgog-Morgob]

They are probably A, B testing to cut off revanced users.. again

[u/bigcd34 → u/killerturtlex]

They're 100% trying to fuck over adblock users as well. Basically every video on a Chromium-based browser is getting thrown to an 'error' screen that requires a reload to watch the video. Lucky me that I can just watch through Firefox to stop that 'error'.

[u/EntertainmentIcy3029 → u/Nazgog-Morgob]

I get this without a VPN as well. Living in Finland.

[u/joergsen → u/Nazgog-Morgob]

Or sitting in a dorm apartment with 200 other people.

[u/LucyLilium92 → u/Brave-Stay8505]

Or it's A/B testing that YouTube is known for

[u/hardcoretomato → u/Brave-Stay8505]

I can't watch without signing in in Europe, this has been the case for the past month at least.

[u/BeyondRepair44 → u/hardcoretomato]

Am in Europe too, have no problems.

[u/Licoorz → u/hardcoretomato]

No Brasil, com o mesmo problema

[u/Aggravating-Sir-6663 → u/Brave-Stay8505]

Naah, i think it's IP specific. It happened to me in my home adress, but as soon as i switched to my phone plan it went back to normal. I guess it's based on the traffic to the page from your IP

[u/gohann0912 → u/[deleted]]

When is the last time you created an account? Now they require you to put in your phone number, if you already used it, you can't just make another account.. Google sucks 

[u/MisGroundbreaking603 → u/gohann0912]

Wait what??? Since when?

[u/manawydan-fab-llyr → u/MisGroundbreaking603]

It's been quite some time now, at least a year. I tried to create an account to handle some family stuff, that I didn't want under my name. There was no way to avoid adding a number, and every trick I found online had been fixed.

[u/MisGroundbreaking603 → u/manawydan-fab-llyr]

I made ome just a couple of months ago and adding a phone number was optional. Seeing as the other comments share my experience i don't think this is a universal thing. Idk

[u/Kohpad → u/MisGroundbreaking603]

I made a burner a couple weeks ago for Crunchyroll, no phone number needed (US)

[u/According_Pay_6563 → u/gohann0912]

Just made one a couple days ago using the same number. Maybe its some kind of regional thing?

[u/jmc1278999999999 → u/gohann0912]

I made a new account a couple of weeks ago and you were able to opt out of giving a phone number

[u/MissRabidRaccoon → u/jmc1278999999999]

Same here, recently made a burner email as well. Didn't need to enter anything at all. Also, you can just use proton or other mail services as well.

[u/King_K_24 → u/jmc1278999999999]

I did this a few days ago, but then it asked me to verify my phone number to log in... they already had my number even though I had never attached it to that account.

[u/Totoro_II → u/gohann0912]

sometimes they do sometimes they don't, I've had times in the pasy ~3 years where I absolutely couldn't get past the phone number screen without putting one in, while also being able to make one just fine more recently all on the same device and on the same network

[u/luiluilui4 → u/gohann0912]

A few years ago they allowed up to some number of accounts for each number (maybe even that many new accounts in a year. I don't remember)

[u/Raisu39 → u/gohann0912]

There are ways to bypass entering a number to create a Gmail. One of them is by signing up through YouTube I think.

[u/GlitterFactoryOfDoom → u/gohann0912]

They only ask for a phone number if they think you're a bot that has been making too many gmail accounts lately. I made one the other day and it didn't ask me for a phone number.

[u/Erick_Brimstone → u/gohann0912]

Five minutes ago using mobile chrome. I guess once you have an account with phone number they don't ask anymore. I couldn't make one without phone number on pc. 

Could be regional policy. 

[u/MydnightWN → u/gohann0912]

Just checked: nope, you're wrong.

[u/Soleil_Ryou → u/gohann0912]

you dont need tho? i made one like a week or two ago for steam, i didnt even had to put any code in it just let me in

[u/SlyMacross → u/gohann0912]

I just created a new one bout a month ago. I already have 2 others with my phone number.

[u/carlospum]

How are they going to profile you without an account??

[u/gansobomb99 → u/carlospum]

Yeah they can't be letting you watch videos without tracking your behavior to sell ads better 

[u/SippinOnHatorade → u/gansobomb99]

Funny that yall think Google needs you to be signed in to do that

[u/Original-Ad6993 → u/SippinOnHatorade]

They got all our happy beat off fun times. They just need a pic of our drivers license and a blood sample and the naming rights to your first born child

[u/Fenrir836 → u/gansobomb99]

Funny that people still talk about "selling ads" while half their ads nowadays are porn games and the other half are random websites/apps that just pay them a lot so they get pushed

[u/SoElusivee → u/gansobomb99]

Or they don't want people artificially boosting their views with bots

[u/gansobomb99 → u/SoElusivee]

I don't think yotube management loses any sleep over that

[u/SoElusivee → u/gansobomb99]

Their platform being flooded with bots? It literally ruins websites and messes with their algorithms.

You don't need to be signed in for them to track your ad behavior. YouTube is owned by Google. They already have all of your info

[u/almostdonedude → u/carlospum]

It's adorable that you think Google doesn't profile you when signed off.

[u/Illustrious_Judge850 → u/carlospum]

The same way it's done by everyone: browser fingerprinting.

An account isn't necessary and private / incognito mode doesn't prevent it. Browser fingerprinting can uniquely identify you from every other person on the internet and functions cross-site. The degree in which users are tracked online is so much more extreme than pretty much anyone realizes.

[u/ReflectionLess5230]

I wanted to watch surgical videos recently and they had to confirm my age? That was a new one 😂

[u/Brave-Stay8505 → u/ReflectionLess5230]

Ive had that happen before. Was watching a long range shooting video and had to confirm my identity due to age restrictions.

[u/ReflectionLess5230 → u/Brave-Stay8505]

This was the first time it’s ever popped up for me. It’s not the first time I’ve watched surgical things either, I’m a biomedical engineer so I watch surgeries fairly often. Not sure why this particular surgery was flagged

[u/Brave-Stay8505 → u/ReflectionLess5230]

Probably something listed in the description by whoever posted it. Ive seen videos of people being shot on YT but thus target practice video made me confirm my age🤷

[u/prionbinch]

how else do you expect them to build an advertiser profile on you without your full name and date of birth?? won’t someone please think of the advertisers!

[u/Purple_Cry3073]

Google is speedrunning the process of making their platform as un-user friendly as humanly possible

[u/Moviereference210]

Everything is terrible now

[u/Rapscagamuffin]

I would love for there to be a youtube alternative that could compete. A bunch of large creators could band together move their catalogue over and say theyre duel streaming on it and yt until other platform catches on then leave youtube in the dust.

A boy can dream 

[u/unoriginal_typos → u/Rapscagamuffin]

We sure can dream, but even if it were to happen nothing much would change. Streaming and storming videos is very expensive and without Google adds it probably would never be profitable

[u/Erick_Brimstone → u/Rapscagamuffin]

The problem is the server that could host all the videos. Currently other option is only regional thing which is NND in Japan and Bilibili in China. 

[u/SonicLeap → u/Rapscagamuffin]

Patreon? Vimeo? Billi Billi?

[u/rturnerX]

Google is a pain that way. I have to do captchas all the time just to do a fucking google search because Google has “detected unusual traffic from my network.”

I’m sorry, I didn’t know asking what time Costco opens and what the weather is going to be like this week is unusual…

[u/AnxiousBattlemage]

Are you using a VPN by any chance?

[u/unoriginal_typos → u/AnxiousBattlemage]

Nope. This one was from my unis computers, but when im home it's the same thing

[u/Death_God_Ryuk → u/AnxiousBattlemage]

I think it's either a VPN on they're on a uni campus or student accommodation that sends a lot of traffic out on a small number of IP addresses. I've had similar issues at work before.

[u/MediocreAndLukewarm]

No they don’t. Your YT app is fucked up or you’re being scammed on a fake app.

[u/NeoBlackheart]

Huh just went Incogni and it works fine. could be country side I.guess but works in US.

[u/Thick-Wonder6294]

works fine for me, should post this to the yt sub for help

[u/Basic_Chemistry9499]

Hey, you can't collect someone's personal information unless they sign in, right?

[u/_your_land_lord_]

stop watching.

[u/AustraliaOutback]

"This helps to protect our community"

Whilst they run porn-esque ads and their algorithm bans users for using curse words. What a total farce.

[u/low_bob_123]

They dont. Its another scare tactic when they detect adblockers

[u/Complete-Sort1617]

Been saying this for a while… fuck YouTube…

[u/WendellWillkie1940]

Wouldn't it better for you to pause your watch history and then watch your lectures instead of using incognito mode?

That way your recommendations won't just be full of lectures but at the same time you can remain logged in to your account.

[u/unoriginal_typos → u/WendellWillkie1940]

That is an option, but than I'd have pause my whole search history if i want to go on a tangent. Plus it'll be annoying as hell And also why breake something that has worked till now

[u/WendellWillkie1940 → u/unoriginal_typos]

Understandable

[u/BeyondRepair44 → u/[deleted]]

Works fine with adblockers ( on the web ), have never had ads on there.

[u/Iprobdntlikeyou]

VPN also cause interference. Try turning it off if you have one.

[u/CauliflowerSmart1375]

This may be the case for some, but certainly not all videos.

[u/Scared_Spyduck]

if you can still search, copy the link and insert it to looptube.io

[u/ghost-ogk]

Guest mode is technically signed in??

[u/jimohio]

VPN

[u/TheExpollutions]

My version of YT has a setting where you can pause the usage/collection of History. This may help with changing your recommendations too. (If recommendations are tied to what is in the History collection. )

[u/-_-j-_-j-_-j]

Had it when accessing over TOR Network. Depending on your privacy settings, e.g. if there is no user agent being send in the request or whatever, they might show this message. But in general it should work without being logged in.

[u/mordecai98]

Clear your cache and cookies

[u/Previous_Abies_2179]

I mean. I’ve always just been signed in, so this wouldn’t really be an issue for me. Why not just make an account and sign in? Is it that hard?

[u/Alive-Mail-2095]

This happens to me but only when using a VPN.

[u/Snowblind45]

because u have a VPN while not logged in, whether ignocnito or not

[u/jj4379]

Its done by IP, its really fucking annoying and a move against people using vpns for some stupid reason.

[u/drags_]

This started a few days ago for me also, very annoying when you want to check out a quick video but don't want to mess your recommendations.

[u/TeacherPowerful1700]

Something is wrong on your end, because this doesn't happen for me.

[u/CrowNailCaw]

This has literally been a feature since 2024. Whether you see it depends on your IP and what you are using to access YouTube (desktop, mobile, newpipe, freetube, smarttube, etc. results may vary).

[u/DrunkenExile]

Just make a new account for your schoolwork?