Many YouTube users consider the ‘Sort By Oldest’ feature—which allows you to sort any channel’s videos from oldest to newest—to be one of the most significant features on the platform.
This is due to the fact that this feature enables you to explore a channel’s history, track its evolution over time, watch videos in chronological order, enjoy old nostalgic videos, etc.
Unfortunately, the ‘Sort By Oldest’ option was recently removed from the YouTube app and the desktop version of the platform, leaving numerous users upset and unable to use this valuable feature.
In this blog post, I’ll show you how to bring back the ‘Sort By Oldest’ feature in both the YouTube app on mobile and the desktop site on PC.
Our Full Guide To Bring Back ‘Sort By Oldest’ On YouTube [App/Desktop]
- Use an Older Version of the YouTube App
- Use The ‘YouTube Redux’ Browser Extension
- Use the ‘Before:Year’ Trick
- Use the Online Tool [Playlist.Tools]
Why YouTube Can’t Sort by Oldest?
Many YouTube users are questioning why the company has removed the ability to filter videos by oldest on a channel, and they all agree that by deleting a beloved feature, YouTube is making the platform worse.
Before answering this question, you should know that the removal of ‘sort by oldest’ is not a random bug that can be fixed by updating the app or clearing its cache; it is an intentional change from YouTube, as stated in an official video from the YouTube Creator technical team:
“note that we are deprecating one sorting option and that is by oldest video at the channel level.“
Now, the reason why YouTube removed the ‘Sort by Oldest’ feature is because of technical difficulties associated with changing the platform’s layout.
“What does that mean?”
Initially, the sort by oldest option was only available in a mixed mode, where videos, live streams, and shorts were all shown in the same feed.
However, with changes to the platform’s layout (the introduction of separated tabs), the Sort by Oldest option “fell by the wayside,” while YouTube didn’t prioritize bringing it back in the new layout.
4 Ways to Bring Back the ‘Sort by Oldest’ Feature on the YouTube App and Desktop Site
Workaround #01 : Use an Older Version of the YouTube App
This is by far the best approach I’ve found to bring back the ‘Sort by oldest’ feature on your mobile device.
As you are aware, the ‘sort by oldest’ option has been removed from the latest versions of the YouTube app; therefore, using an older version of the app when this feature was included will allow you to easily access it.
In this case, to guarantee that everything is correctly set up, follow these steps:
Step 01: To begin, you need to find an old, but not too old, version of the YouTube app in which the ‘sort by oldest’ feature was included and functioning perfectly. After some research and testing, the 17.03.38 version seems to be a good choice.
Step 02: You now need to find a trustworthy source for downloading the desired version as an APK file (sorry iOS people, I can’t do anything), and that source is Softpedia—Get YouTube APK version 17.03.38 here.
Step 03: After downloading the APK file on your mobile device, you must delete the current YouTube app from your phone to avoid any issues or conflicts when installing the old version YouTube APK.
If the YouTube app comes preloaded on your phone and cannot be removed, simply uninstall/delete its latest updates via the Settings app or the Google Play Store; this will reset the YouTube app to its factory version.
Step 04: Now, install the old version YouTube APK file on your phone.
Step 05: Once the installation is complete, check to see if you have the desired version (17.03.38) and, most importantly, if the ‘sort by oldest’ option is available in the app and functioning properly.
Step 06: Finally, and this is a crucial step, you must disable the YouTube app’s automatic updates on Google Play.
Note: It’s important to know that using an older version of any app may come with some drawbacks including bugs and not having access to the latest features.
Workaround #02 : Use The ‘YouTube Redux’ Browser Extension
In the world of browser extensions, there’s a solution for every need, which means that you can customize your browsing experience to suit your preferences and get any feature you desire, including the ones that have been taken away.
YouTube Redux is a browser extension that provides many YouTube customizing features. The best one is the classic YouTube page layout, and guess what? it has the ‘sort by oldest’ feature included.
So, if you’re someone like me who enjoys watching YouTube on his PC rather than his mobile phone, using the YouTube Redux browser extension is the best workaround to bring back “sort by oldest” on YouTube.
Simply install the extension on your preferred browser [Chrome, Firefox, or Edge] and begin using the feature immediately by going to the YouTube channel whose videos you want to be sorted from oldest to newest. The ‘Oldest’ button will be displayed; simply click it and the extension will do the rest.
Note: After using the extension for a bit, I’ve noticed that it sometimes experiences bugs, especially if the channel contains a significant number of videos. In this particular situation, simply refreshing the page will restore normal functionality.
Workaround #03 : Use the ‘Before:Year’ Trick
There’s a handy trick that makes it possible for you to restore the Sort by Oldest functionality but in a roundabout manner.
In other words, it doesn’t directly restore the feature, but it helps you achieve a similar outcome of finding older videos quickly.
This trick, which applies primarily to the YouTube desktop site, involves using the channel’s search bar and inputting a specific command in the form of before:YEAR
For example, if you want to find videos from 2013, simply type before:2013 in the search box of the YouTube channel. This will filter the search results to just videos that were uploaded before that specific year.
Pretty clever, right?
Read also: Fix YouTube Search Results Not Relevant
Workaround #04 : Use the Online Tool [Playlist.Tools]
Finally, you have Playlist.Tools; an online tool that provides various features for managing and organizing YouTube playlists, including the ability to sort videos within a channel by their upload date from oldest to newest.
To use Playlist.Tools for sorting a channel’s videos from oldest to newest, follow these steps:
Step 01: Open your web browser and go to the Playlist.Tools website.
Step 02: On the homepage, you will find a search bar where you can enter the channel URL or handle (e.g. @PewDiePie).
Step 03: Wait until the channel’s content is loaded fully.
Note: If the channel contains over 2500 videos, you won’t be able to use this tool. This “2500 videos” limitation has been put in by the website to avoid overloading the YouTube API.
Step 04: Now look for the ‘SORT BY UPLOAD DATE’ option, and don’t forget to sort in ascending order so you get the oldest videos at the top of the page without scrolling down.
Despite the “2500 videos” limitation, the ‘Playlist.Tools’ online tool is a simple but highly-effective workaround that you can use to sort any channel’s videos from oldest to newest.
And yet, the greatest aspect of this approach—using an online tool—is that it can be used on both mobile devices and computers.
The Bottom Line
on May 4, 2023, YouTube officially confirmed that they will be reintroducing the beloved ‘Sort by oldest’ option to the platform in the coming months.
This announcement comes as a breath of fresh air for users who have been eagerly waiting for this feature’s return.
Until that day, this blog post is here to provide you with several workarounds to temporarily bring back the ‘Sort by oldest’ feature.
