YouTube on the Apple TV is still missing 4K playback on tvOS 14

Tvos 14 Preview Youtube App (Image credit: Christopher Close / iMore)

What you need to know

4K playback support for the YouTube app on the Apple TV 4K is still missing.
Apple has and is advertising the feature on its tvOS 14 website.
The YouTube support team says support for 4K playback is coming "soon."

Reported by MacRumors, one of the most anticipated updates for tvOS 14 has yet to show up even after the new update rolled out to customers on Wednesday.

On Apple's own tvOS 14 website, the company listed that the YouTube app would finally support 4K playback on the Apple TV. However, as many users have found out, 4K playback is still missing from the YouTube app on the Apple TV even after tvOS14's release.

Selecting a 4K video on a 4K Apple TV upgraded to tvOS 14 limits the video playback to 1080p, which is the same playback quality that was available before.

According to some users who have posted complaints about the feature missing to Twitter, 4K playback was working on some of the tvOS 14 betas, though support seems to have varied from user to user.

It's not clear what's going on, but there have been many upset Apple TV owners complaining on Twitter. Some users have said that 4K playback was working as expected with YouTube during some of the betas, but functionality was erratic, so perhaps there are bugs that need to be worked out.

The Team YouTube support Twitter account has responded to one user saying that support for 4K playback on the Apple TV 4K will be coming "soon."

Sorry about the back and forth -- jumping in to clarify that Apple TV 4K will support 4K playback soon. Stay tuned for an update here.Sorry about the back and forth -- jumping in to clarify that Apple TV 4K will support 4K playback soon. Stay tuned for an update here.— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) September 18, 2020 September 18, 2020

It is currently not clear if the lack of 4K support for the YouTube app is due to a bug in tvOS 14 or if YouTube has yet to add support for the feature that will come in a future update. It also isn't the only frustrating thing going on with YouTube lately. YouTube also seems to be reserving support for Picture in Picture on the iPhone for Premium subscribers.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.