Is it possible to get the original YouTube iPad app back?

No. The original youtube app was created by Apple and Apple have discontinued it (along with the original google maps app). Short of downgrading back to iOS 5 which in itself would be tricky as you would need to get that from a 3rd party there is no way to get Apple to put their app back in.

Since Google decided to compete with the iPhone by making their own mobile devices, they and Apple had a falling out. So Apple stopped supporting the Google-based applications such as YouTube and Maps. I agree that the YouTube functionality on iOS is lacking. I use Google Chrome browser for iOS, and it helps.

Search “Google” in the iOS App Store for their Maps, YouTube, and Chrome apps, among others.

In short, no. That is why I’ve decided not to upgrade to ios6 because of the Youtube app going away.

I’d like to suggest another alternative Youtube app, called McTube. It’s completely free with no limitations.

I use it and it works great. You can play your playlists and add videos to them directly from the app.

Download Chrome for your iPad and use it as your browser. If you access YouTube through Chrome, your problems might be solved.

Awww, shucks, that’s too bad! But thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate your taking the time.
@hearkat @janbb Chrome on the iPad? I’ll try that!
@AshlynM Thanks for the McTube suggestion!
@hearkat I did download the YouTube app from the app store, but all it does is launch YouTube within Safari. It works, but it has reduced functionality.

@2davidc8 Yes, my son worked on the project for Chrome for mobile. The tabs are “his.”

@janbb Great! Good for him!