YouTube Kids won't connect to Wi-Fi because it thinks you are in Quebec? It's a long-standing issue with no fix in sight

YouTube Kids is Google’s child-focused content service. However, many users have been suffering from problems that do not allow them to access the content.

According to multiple reports, YouTube Kids won’t connect to Wi-Fi for many users, because the service mistakenly detects that they are in Quebec (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

YouTube Kids users report an erroneous geographic recognition bug that prevents them from using the service.

It should be noted that YouTube Kids is not available in Quebec. Regarding this, Google once declared that ‘Quebec is a unique environment and we’re not launching YouTube Kids in the province at this time’.

However, a problem in the service causes it to detect that the user is in that location, even if they are not.

YouTube kids hasn’t worked for three days because it says we’re in Quebec
we live in Toronto, a 3 hour drive from Quebec. We’ve deleted and reinstalled the app, adjusted the location settings on all devices and even tried a VPN blocker and nothing works. I’ve read other posters complaining this happens frequently, making the app useless for days at a time. Please fix this.
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It should be noted that this problem is not exactly new. In fact, there have been reports for many months, and even from the past year 2020.

Hi … same for me… I’m in Ontario and says I’m in Quebec and no access cuz of that
I can not access in ipad nor in samsung galaxy s8 nor galaxy s20… all 3 devices stop access between may 20, 2021 after 6pm and may 21 before 8am

What is going on?

I chat with someone in Google for 1h…. all Marty said was check your internet connection is strong and turn off and on your device… this is ridiculous
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The same thing happens to us as well. It’s really annoying. My understanding which comes from a casual conversation with someone who works in the field of communications is that it has a lot to do with the actual internet infrastructure in Canada. There is a major internet hub/data centre or something like that located around Montreal which tricks google services into thinking a person in Toronto is in Quebec.
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And, in 2020, a Google Community Manager confirmed that the problem had been escalated. But, the reports keep popping up.

So, there is still no estimated date for the arrival of a fix to this issue.

In the coming days, if there is any related development in this matter, we will update this article. And, you can also check the issues/bugs tracker dedicated to YouTube.

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