Follow the side-loading steps carefully, disable auto-updates, and be prepared to switch to SmartTubeNext within the year. Your old KitKat TV isn't dead yet, but it's on life support.

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Why You Cannot Use the New YouTube Interface The modern YouTube interface (with the bottom navigation bar, Shorts loop, and live chat overlays) relies on Android’s WebView components that simply do not exist in KitKat. Consequently, the KitKat-compatible version uses the older "leanback" interface – sometimes called the "YouTube TV" old layout.