YouTube- "This account cannot be used on AppleTV..." quick fix

I had this same problem with my Apple TV, but I couldn't bear the step where I had to give Google my phone number as part of their super authentication.

Here are three things that I did, that somehow worked, and allowed me to be logged into YouTube on my Apple TV without ever giving Google my phone number:

1. I updated my AppleTV to the latest version. As of January 29, 2013, that is version 5.2. (Note: the update failed for as long as I had an ethernet cable plugged into the AppleTV. I could only update when I unplugged the ethernet cable and used Wi-Fi.)

2. For my first couple attempts to sign on (both with YouTube, and also with Netflix), I was trying to use the Remote app on my iPad to type the letters directly (trying to save myself the effort of hunting around for them with my Apple TV remote control). However, as I have learned in the past, for some reason when I'm entering usernames and passwords, the AppleTV fails when I use the Remote app.

So, instead, I painstakingly entered username and password with the remote and the on screen grids full of characters. This worked for Netflix, and eventually worked for YouTube.

3. Instead of entering my Google Gmail address as my username, I entered my YouTube account name.

This seemed to be the winning combination: Logged onto Wi-Fi, no ethernet cable plugged in, both username and password typed with the Apple remote, and using my YouTube username instead of my Gmail email address.

I'm not sure all of these steps were necessary. For example, once I unplugged the ethernet cable, and entered my Wi-Fi password for the first time, maybe I could have plug the ethernet cable back in and had things work again. But I wouldn't bet on it. Having that ethernet cable plugged in (and no Wi-Fi password entered) seemed to single-handedly prevents me from upgrading from the 5.1 software to the 5.2 software.

In any case, it makes intuitive sense that the important part was entering the YouTube username, which seems like it might require a lower security permission then a Gmail email address.

I hope this has been helpful to someone.

I ran into the same, "account cannot be used ...", problem after upgrading my apple tv software. And this fix worked. Thanks!

I had a similar problem, this solution worked for me. Tx!

Great fix, thank you! After step 3 I tried logging in to YouTube on ATV and it worked like a charm. Shows my account, subcriptions as I hoped. Thank you again.

Thanks alot for your help melaniegugel7!

THANK YOU!!!

I had the same problem and just created my channel. Then the login worked. I don't have 2-step or application specific passwords. Just creating my channel seems to be enough.

Yes, I also had the same problem even though I had already set up a channel some time ago. What seemed to fix it was upgrading to the new 'Youtube One Channel', after that, I could log in on my Apple TV with no problem.

Thanks for your help!

Thank you melaniegugel7, it worked.

A million thanks Analytical guy. I tried many different combinations but only your exact order of steps worked for me.

thanks a lot;

I tried logging after step 3 and it worked!

1. Go to your YouTube homepage.

2. Top right where you see your username, open the drop-down and click "MY CHANNEL"

3. If you've already set up your channel, you're ahead of the game. If not- set it up! (takes mybe 5 clicks. easy. no obligations to post stuff.)

*I didn't bother to try and login on appletv after doing only this, but you're welcome to try- might work. might not. If it works- post it here and save everyone else some time!

thanks ,

Kayhan

It's just to bad that Google forces you to create a Google+ account just to enable YouTube on Apple TV.. Thanks for the steps though 🙂

Thanks for your help it worked for me.

I updated apple tv

I created, my chanel on utube and on your sugestion to try sign in to utube on apple tv worked.

Melaniegugel7's solution thru step 5 worked just fine.

I tried the above suggestions, and it should have worked, but sadly, it didn't. I still got the unable to connect messge on my ATV2.

My problem was, I had already set up "My Channel" a month or so ago, and had been dinking around with it. While messing around with it, apparently I had connected my YouTube Account/Channel to a Google+ account.

My solution (After following the steps suggested by melaniegugel7 and Analytical Guy ) was to:

1) Login to my Youtube site.

2) Select "Settings" from the user area in the top right corner.

3) Select the link "Temporarily disconnect my Youtube Account from Google+" which is located next to the avatar. (Mine is a default avatar, I never change those for some reason.)

4) Test the login on ATV using gmail acount (or whatever account you used for youtube) and enter the super-duper-long password supplied by google as outlined in the posts above.

5) SUCCESS! (For me at least.)

Since it was a link that said "Temporarily disconnect from Google+" I do not know if it will automatically reconnect sometime in the future. For now everything is working fine, and unlinking YouTube from Google+ did not cause a problem with my Youtube Subscriptions, Favorites, or My Videos.

Currently, next to the default avatar of my YouTube account settings it says "Link channel with Google+." I will not be doing that anytime soon, since connecting my channel to Google+ caused problems.

Hope this helps someone else out there. Good Luck!