Introduction
Recently, many people have found they can no longer watch YouTube on their 3DS. First of all, it looks like the version you'd be seeing on a basic, non smart phone's web browser. Secondly, when they'd click on "Watch video" they would get a dialog box saying "This address is not supported." Also, a lot of Luma CFW users report that the YouTube app crashes and doesn't work. Me, personally, I had both of these problems happen to me.

Well, worry no more! I will show you how to watch YouTube again, in the web browser. This method essentially downgrades the 3DS web browser, and it works perfectly. (I'm pretty sure that BrowserHax will work again, although what's the point if you have CFW? I haven't tried.)

Required

• A New Nintendo 3DS (old 3DS doesn’t have video support in the web browser)
• CFW or some way to install CIAs
• A CIA manager like DevMenu or FBI (I used FBI)
• The internet browser CIA from an older system firmware version (I used 9.2.0-20E). I can't tell you where to download the files, but if you Google "[MEGA] [CIA/BIN] MSET 4.X" (without the quotes), you should find a page where you can download a ZIP file with the firmware files inside
• A computer

Recommended

• Godmode9

Instructions
1) On your 3DS, find the title ID of your 3DS's internet browser applet. Mine is 0004003020009D02 (for my European New Nintendo 3DS), but it might be different for the old Nintendo 3DS or for a different region. To find yours, open FBI, go to "Titles", press select and deselect everything except "Show NAND" and "Sort by name", then press B to return to the titles list. Then scroll down until you get to "Internet Browser". You will see it's title ID on the top screen, take a screenshot or write it down, you will need it later.

View attachment 171679

Alteratively, I've found the title IDs of the internet browser on 3dbrew, on this page.
NEW NINTENDO 3DS BROWSER (SKATER):
USA: 0004003020009402
Europe: 0004003020009D02
Japan: 0004003020008802
China: ?
Korea: 000400302000AE02
Taiwan: ?
2) On your PC, download the ZIP file containing an old firmware (like 9.X). MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD THE CORRECT VERSION FOR YOUR MODEL AND REGION!
3) Open the ZIP file, and look for a CIA file where the file name is exactly the same as the Internet Browser title ID you found earlier.

View attachment 171682

Extract it to your 3DS's SD card.
4) This step is optional, but now would be a good time to make a SysNAND backup on your 3DS in Godmode9, in case something goes wrong. Once you've done that, move on to the next step.
5) On your 3DS, open FBI, open the internet browser CIA file you extracted and install it. Then reboot, and open YouTube in the browser and play a video to see if it works. Make sure you've selected "Use mobile versions" in the browser menu.

That's it! You've successfully downgraded the 3DS browser to watch videos again. You can even watch videos in 3D! I've only tried this with YouTube, but you could probably watch videos on other sites like Vimeo, etc.

Anyways, have fun!

Proof
View attachment 171686 View attachment 171687 View attachment 171688

EDIT:
To those confused why this doesn’t work, only the New Nintendo 3DS has support for playing videos in the web browser. If you have an Old 3DS you’re SOL.

 

[zoogie]

9.2 browser fixes the yt issue?
Updates are supposed to make the 3ds more stable, not less.
lol.

 

[Alex4nder001]

9.2 browser fixes the yt issue?
Updates are supposed to make the 3ds more stable, not less.
lol.

I guess Nintendo deliberately made it so that you can't watch videos any more, probably to prevent another BrowserHax exploit being made

 

[lone_wolf323]

I guess Nintendo deliberately made it so that you can't watch videos any more, probably to prevent another BrowserHax exploit being made

well. there was this whole thing that youtube made enough changes to how its system worked that it became a obsolete app which did not work on 3ds consoles anymore

 

[Deleted User]

weirdly the vita version of the youtube app isnt working either but it hasnt been for about a year
you have to use the desktop url to make videos from youtube play because the mobile version gives an error
its weird that they just plugged the plug on 3ds now

 

[SSG Vegeta]

I can watch youtube on my 2DS XL just fine I just use the request mobile sites option in the browser

 

[Vague Rant]

Is this a matter of YouTube serving different versions based on the browser's User Agent? If so, wouldn't another option be to modify the current browser to send an older version's UA?

EDIT: Doesn't seem to be a User Agent thing, tried using a Firefox extension to spoof as several different New 3DS versions and none of them were able to access the modern "smartphone version" YouTube.

EDIT2: Conversely, every 3DS (non-New) User Agent does take me to the modern smartphone YouTube. Now I don't know what to think.

 

[smileyhead]

I'm using a New 3DS and can watch YouTube videos in the browser just fine. No workarounds needed. Just tick the "Use mobile versions" box in the options.

 

[alivebacon]

This fix isn't needed on N3DS, however my fellow O3DS/O2DS users can't request the mobile site.
Hence, this fix.

 

[Kurt91]

Actually, I have a N3DS and can't get YouTube to work at all. Found out the hard way a few days ago when I wanted to see a 3D video of Virtual Boy Wario Land, to see how the 3D effect for that game looked in action. My system does have Luna3DS set up on it, if that affects anything. Still, I tried using the mobile version, desktop version, and just about every workaround that I found via Google search before just giving up.

Admittedly, other than the rare 3D video, I'm more likely to watch videos with my phone, but it is annoying that functionality that's supposed to be there is broken. (Also, for certain things like Zelda Classic videos, the 3DS screen strangely makes the game look better. Kind of like how retro games look better on an old-school TV over a modern HDTV.)

When I've got the time, I'll give this a try and see if it fixes things.

 

[alivebacon]

This fix isn't needed on N3DS, however my fellow O3DS/O2DS users can't request the mobile site.
Hence, this fix.

Why isn't it installing the CIA for me?

 

[Alex4nder001]

Me, personally, I tried to view both mobile and desktop versions, and neither worked. I suspected that a firmware update was responsible, so I tried a partial downgrade (only the web browser) and luckily it worked. It was just a guess and I was right. I was using Luma3DS though, IDK if that had something to interfere with it and only work now.

Why isn't it installing the CIA for me?

Do you have CFW or sigpatches?

 

[alivebacon]

Me, personally, I tried to view both mobile and desktop versions, and neither worked. I suspected that a firmware update was responsible, so I tried a partial downgrade (only the web browser) and luckily it worked. It was just a guess and I was right. I was using Luma3DS though, IDK if that had something to interfere with it and only work now.

Do you have CFW or sigpatches?

I have Luma. So when I go back into the browser, nothing has changed. Open a PM convo to make chatting easier.

 

[RandomCringeyYouTuber]

Doesn't work for me because the file has been deleted. I'm a bit of a dumb ass so maybe its my fault but everything i try just sends me to the same site that doesn't work.

 

[alivebacon]

Me, personally, I tried to view both mobile and desktop versions, and neither worked. I suspected that a firmware update was responsible, so I tried a partial downgrade (only the web browser) and luckily it worked. It was just a guess and I was right. I was using Luma3DS though, IDK if that had something to interfere with it and only work now.

Do you have CFW or sigpatches?

I mean "when I install the CIA FBI shows it as installed but the version number is the exact same and yt is still broken"

 

[Alex4nder001]

I mean "when I install the CIA FBI shows it as installed but the version number is the exact same and yt is still broken"

I don't really know why it isn't working for you, maybe everyone is affected differently

 

[Alex4nder001]

ALSO: Only N3DS has support for playing videos in browser, not N3DS.

I mean "when I install the CIA FBI shows it as installed but the version number is the exact same and yt is still broken"

What FW version are you on and which version FW dump did you download?

 

[cutebross260]

I can't tell you where to download the files, but if you Google "[MEGA] [CIA/BIN] MSET 4.X" (without the quotes), you should find a page where you can download a ZIP file with the firmware files inside

I looked up the one in quotations and the website is still up but the files are down. The weird thing is that the commenters in there realized this as early as 2018, yet this thread was posted in 2019. Others mention that they can just enable the "request mobile sites" option but on my N2DS XL I don't see it there.
(is this necroposting? sorry if it is.)

 

[lone_wolf323]

I looked up the one in quotations and the website is still up but the files are down. The weird thing is that the commenters in there realized this as early as 2018, yet this thread was posted in 2019. Others mention that they can just enable the "request mobile sites" option but on my N2DS XL I don't see it there.
(is this necroposting? sorry if it is.)

if the items are not there. then its likely this wont work. You would need a different platform for watching youtube on.

 

[cutebross260]

if the items are not there. then its likely this wont work. You would need a different platform for watching youtube on.

aight then. also I wasn't looking and found the mobile sites option.