YouTube URL Scheme tvOS

Question

I am trying to open YouTube\'s app from my application with the URL scheme or the YouTube.com domain which opens YouTube\'s app directly on an iOS device.

This is the co

Answer 1

On Apple TV you can use this URL scheme to play a YouTube video in the YouTube app:

youtube://watch/video_id

Code example:

func playVideoInYouTube(_ identifier: String) {

    if let url = URL(string: "youtube://watch/" + identifier),
        UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(url) {

        UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
    }
    else {
        // Inform the user about missing YouTube app
    }
}

To use the canOpenURL method, you have to add the scheme to the Info.plist file under key LSApplicationQueriesSchemes, as part of a schemes array. In XML it looks like this:

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
    <string>youtube</string>
</array>

Answer 2

I also encountered some issues playing youtube videos in the youtube app but I found a workaround, I used the XCDYouTubeKit library to play the youtube video's directly in my app. It's very easy to use and works fine so far.

XCDYouTubeKit : https://github.com/0xced/XCDYouTubeKit

Answer 3

Not necessarily positing this as a “correct" answer, but I think all YouTube links, on iOS at least, are handled by http, not something like youtube://.

Source (looks to be from June 2015):

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/featuredarticles/iPhoneURLScheme_Reference/YouTubeLinks/YouTubeLinks.html