YouTube App for Nintendo Switch Finally Arrives

This is it! While not quite as exciting as the pending launch of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Nintendo Switch users now have access to the official YouTube app. This follows the rumors from earlier this week when the YouTube app showed up as suggested content. It didn’t have a product page at the time. Now it does. And you can download it.

All you have to do is hop on over to the eShop on your Nintendo Switch, just as you would with downloading any other games or apps. For me, the YouTube app showed up as the newest new release, so I imagine it would be similar to you.

Whereas our pals in the United States have had the Hulu app for some time, and Japan has had the NicoNico app, Canadians have been out of luck for video streaming on Nintendo’s portable home console. That has now changed. And of course it is free.

Based on the little bit of time I spent with the YouTube app today, I’d say the experience is almost identical to that of the YouTube app on my Samsung smart TV. You sign into your account by going to youtube.com/activate on your computer or phone. You log into your Google/YouTube account and enter the eight-character code displayed on your Switch. You then get the usual home screen, content from your subscriptions and so forth.

As can be expected with the Nintendo Switch, controls for the YouTube app are a combination of touchscreen and actual buttons. You can use either/or to perform most things. I would have liked the ability to long-press a video thumbnail to add it to my “watch later” list, though. But hey! We’ve got a YouTube app for the Nintendo Switch! Now we just have to wait for a Netflix app to follow suit, right?