api/youtube: reuse web visitor data for android vr - #1581
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YouTube ties playable Android VR responses to visitor data issued by the watch page. Cache that value briefly and use the matching client user agent so media URLs remain accessible without a poToken.
This was referenced Aug 9, 2026
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summary
ANDROID_VRwhy
YouTube currently ties playable Android VR player responses to visitor data issued by the watch page.
youtubei.jsotherwise creates an unrelated visitor session, which returnsLOGIN_REQUIRED; the default iOS flow may produce tunnels whose Google Video responses are empty.This is opt-in through
CUSTOM_INNERTUBE_CLIENT=ANDROID_VR.Addresses #1455 and its duplicate #1475.
testing
node --check api/src/processing/services/youtube.jsgit diff --checkCUSTOM_INNERTUBE_CLIENT=ANDROID_VRhttps://youtu.be/c5cb0pqky3s?list=RDc5cb0pqky3s; the API returned a tunnel