YouTube's latest design suddenly stops working in Chromium-based Edge
By Mark Wycislik-Wilson 2019-05-28T13:57:18Z Software
Users are prompted to download Chrome
Image credit: Sirirat/Shutterstock
Some big-name websites have issues with the new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge, including Google-owned YouTube, which is refusing to work with the new browser.
There was great excitement when Microsoft announced that Edge would be transformed into a Chromium-based browser. Interest was piqued when Edge arrived on macOS, and even more so when it turned out that the browser would also be making its way to Linux. But for all the excitement, it seems the web wasn't quite ready.
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It's the redesigned version of YouTube that's causing problems. Visitors to the site using the Chromium-based version of Edge are greeted by the error message: "Your browser is not supported. Try it with the latest Google Chrome". The old design of YouTube remains accessible.
Since the new Edge is based on the same engine as Chrome, this is causing confusion among users – particularly as the new YouTube design was working in Edge as recently as earlier today.
The sudden change has led to speculation on Reddit that Google has intentionally done something to stop Chromium-based Edge users enjoying the YouTube redesign.
Playing fair?
This isn't the first time it has been suggested that Google is trying to spoil the YouTube experience for Edge users. Mozilla previously grumbled that Google had tinkered with code and reduced the performance of the site in both Edge and Firefox.
As was the case then, there's no evidence to prove that this is what's happening, but the unexpected dropping of support, with no word of explanation from either Google or Microsoft, is causing rumors to run rife.
At the moment, it's not entirely clear when the problem first appeared. Some users say they started experiencing issues after updating to the 64-bit dev channel build 76.0.167.1 of the browser, while others say things were working until upgrading to Canary build 76.0.172.0.
The most likely explanation is that a bug has crept in while the design of YouTube is tinkered with rather than it being a ploy by Google to get more people to switch to its own Chrome browser.
But with other Google site such as Google Drive and Google Docs also proving problematic for Chromium-based Edge users, it's perhaps little wonder that conspiracy theories are starting to mount. Until the issue is resolved, one workaround that people have found to be helpful is to use the User-Agent Switcher Chrome extension.
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