[rsynnott]

As far as I know this is exactly how the popular third-party iOS Youtube client Jasmine works. It used to be better than it is, but a couple of versions ago the developer mentioned that he was changing the means of showing the video to comply with Google's requirements, and it became a (relatively well-concealed) embedded HTML5 video pane.

[interpol_p]

Yes but as you say, the user experience became worse after that change. Google is forcing developers to implement a lower quality experience. This seems bad. Is it so they can maintain more control?

[rsynnott]

Yep, more or less; I'm fairly sure it's so that they can guarantee their ads are shown.