PlayStation Ends YouTube and Maps Support for PS Vita

Sony will be removing the YouTube application from its PlayStation Store for PS Vita from today. The Maps app is also being dropped from March.

The popular Google-owned video app will be taken down from the store on the 28th of January and support for YouTube will be terminated on 20th of April. This means if you haven’t got it installed onto your PS Vita before now you’ll only be able to view content via the handheld’s web browser. After April there will be no further updates for the software meaning that in time the YouTube app will become pretty redundant.

PlayStation’s FAQ confirms that video quality will be retained and many of the same features from the YouTube app can be found and used in the browser version, including signing in to Google accounts, creating and editing playlists, subscribing to channels – there just won’t be a dedicated app to do it with.

There are however a few limitations to using YouTube via the browser over an app and they include things like being unable to change the quality of a video during playback only before starting it, and that you cannot play a video on repeat. These are minor details that should not really affect overall enjoyment of YouTube on the PS Vita.

As for the Maps application, this will be removed from all PS Vita systems in a future update coming this March. By installing the firmware Maps and all functionality will be automatically disabled and deleted and this will affect some of the location based features such in the Near social gaming app. PlayStation’s FAQ advises PS Vita to use Google Maps via the web browser as an alternative after the disablement of Maps takes place.

PlayStation Support currently offers full advice and FAQs on YouTube and Maps for PS Vita.