How can I find Youtube videos I've watched
January 24, 2023 8:21 PM   Subscribe

I watch youtube videos on my LG TV's YT app. I don't log in to do that. I just surf "home" videos and click play and watch. However, occasionally, I'll pause and then inadvertently click "back" too many times and then it drops me back to "home". But now, it doesn't show me the same set of video choices, and I can't find the video I was just watching! And I also can't find a history of what I watched.

How can I find the video I was just watching? It's so frustrating! TIA if you know how.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra to Computers & Internet (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: AFIAK, you need to logged in to Youtube to be able to review your watching history within that app. It also allows you to review a single history whether you have browsed something on your phone or on your TV, for example.

If you wanted to do this on an LG tv - without logging in to Youtube - then something you might try would be to use the web browser instead to view the videos - then you ought to be able to use the history of that (I have not tried this myself however).
posted by rongorongo at 11:39 PM on January 24, 2023 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I never created an account or logged into youtube on any device, for privacy reasons, and essentially learned to live with versions of your experience - although i guess there are still some cookies involved because a given browser session will sort-of remember what I’ve watched already & prompt with semi-related stuff on the right hand side of the browser screen - until i clear out the cookies.

But when i got a new Sony TV that runs on Android, it was (afaict) impossible not to have a google account. So i created a bullshit imaginary account for that purpose only, which i never use to log in via any other device. So, on the TV now i can have youtube viewing history, should i want it. I think it was still a pain in the butt to create the account & validate the initial login, though - iirc i had to dig out my droid work phone for some kind of 2FA.
posted by Puppy McSock at 3:59 AM on January 25, 2023 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: This is interesting. On my PC, while logged into google, I went to youtube.com and typed in some words describing the video and the first link was the one I lost, from yesterday. So yes, they are obviously tying my logged off viewing to my logged in account on a different device.

And yes, even logged out, the TV app will prompt with semi-related stuff to prior sessions.

Thanks for the answers!
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 7:57 AM on January 25, 2023


One other note: if you are logged in, on the left side of the screen under home there should be a link called "Library." It shows the videos you have watched in reverse chronological order. Sometimes if I see something I might want to watch later, I click the video and let it run for a second, then go back to "Library" later and continue watching it.
posted by tacodave at 3:38 PM on January 25, 2023


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