Between 2012 and 2015, Google transitioned YouTube’s backend from a deprecated XML-based API (version 2.0) to a modern JSON-based API (version 3.0). The last version of the official YouTube app compatible with iOS 5.1.1——still relies on the old API. When you launch it, it sends a request to Google’s servers using outdated authentication methods, and the servers simply reject it.
If you’re still running iOS 5.1.1 on legacy hardware (iPad 1, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4G), the official YouTube app broke years ago. Google’s API v2 shutdown means the stock app shows “Cannot connect to YouTube.” But there is a verified, patched IPA that still works in 2024.
To make a YouTube IPA work on iOS 5.1.1 in 2025, you need a that redirects API calls to a third-party proxy server. The most famous of these for legacy iOS is TubeFixer or YouTube Classic (Patched) .
RetroiOS / August 2024