YouTube/YouTube App Not Working: Why and How to Fix It?
YouTube is the world's largest online video website, with 2 billion logged-in monthly users, 500 hours of videos uploaded per minute, each visitor spends 11m24s per day on YouTube, as of Nov 12, 2020. But YouTube not working properly often lead to disturbances. Sometimes you're alone with certain YouTube error. Sometimes others in your country or multiple countries are faced with the issue you're experiencing. It could be YouTube site not opening, 500 internal server error, no network connection, error loading, black screen, etc. To help you tackle the errors, we will explain why and how to fix it when YouTube doesn't work on PC, iPhone, iPad, Android, Roku, Chrome, or any other devices.
Causes & Fixes: Why Won't YouTube Work? How to Fix YouTube Not Working?
Reason 1. Full or broken caches and cookies
Full or broken caches and cookies will prevent you from playing YouTube videos properly. If your YouTube isn't working due to this thing, empty your browser caches and cookies.
Corresponding solution - clear caches and cookies
- For Chrome - Click the Menu button at the top right corner of Chrome browser, move to "More tools", and then select "Clear browsing data". Make sure "Cached images and files" and "cookies and other site data" are checked. And then click "CLEAR BROWSING DATA".
- For Firefox - Click the Menu button and then Options. Next, go to "Advanced", move to "Network" tab, and then click "Clear Now" beside "Cached Web Content".
- For iPhone/iPad - Go to Settings, scroll down and click Safari, and then press "Clear History and Website Data".
- For Android - Open its default browser and press menu. Then, choose Privacy & security and touch Clear cache and COOKIES.
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Reason 2. Outdated Adobe Flash Player
Another browser problem that causes YouTube stopped working is an outdated Adobe Flash Player. YouTube will pop up a message asking you to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player if it is the culprit.
Corresponding solution - upgrade Adobe Flash Player
Click on the Adobe website link that YouTube presents for you, and then simply follow the instructions to download the update.
Reason 3. Extensions and plugins
YouTube not working error may be caused by the extensions and plugins installed in your computer browser. This is particularly true for download plugins, ad blockers, and website accelerators.
Corresponding solution - disable extensions and plugins
Here, let's take Chrome as an example. Go to Menu option of Chrome browser, scroll down to More tools, choose extensions, and then disable those plugins we mentioned above. If you really need to download videos, you can download a desktop-based video downloader which won't affect the performance of YouTube.
Reason 4. Slow/unstable internet connection
Watching YouTube videos requires fast and stable web access. If your network connection is in poor condition, YouTube videos choppy or long-time buffering will occur.
Corresponding solutions:
- Stop other download tasks, including other programs that are accessing web as well as other browsers and browser tabs.
- Choose a low-quality option. YouTube often provides multiple quality options to choose based on your own needs. Click Settings icon, choose Quality, and then select a quality lower than previous choice.
- Watch YouTube offline. Switch to a free video downloader, and save target video for offline smooth playback to get rid of the control of internet connection.
- Try a different network if it is possible.
Reason 5. Firewall blockage
The firewall used to keep a network secure sometimes will block YouTube videos. YouTube not loading problem may be caused by third-party firewall software like McAfee and Comodo.
Corresponding solution:
First of all, disable the suspicious firewall software and then restart your browser to see if YouTube videos not working error gets fixed. If it does, you should add YouTube to the list of authorized websites or uninstall this firewall program.
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Other Issues and Fixes
If YouTube site doesn't work on your computer because of "500 Internal Server Error", "403 Error" or a message saying "Sorry, something went wrong", try fixes below:
- Refresh the page.
- Close most of browser tabs except for the one you're using for YouTube.
- Restart your browser.
- Restart your router.
- Reboot your computer.
- Update your browser to the newest version.
- Switch to Google Chrome if you use other browser.
When YouTube app isn't working on Android, iPhone, or iPad, displaying error message "There is no network connection right now (Retry).", "There is no network connection right now. Please try again later (Retry).", "Please check your network connection (Retry.)", or "No Connection.", troubleshoot them with the following solutions:
- Turn off airplane mode on your device.
- Connect to WI-FI, LTE, or 3G (if available).
- Make sure data usage is enabled for YouTube.
- Restart the app.
- Try viewing the video on a different device.
- Download the latest version of YouTube app.
- Update your OS of device.
- Try viewing the video again in 30 minutes.
If you see "An error occurred", "An error occurred while performing this operation" or "Oops! Something went wrong" while you browse YouTube website on iPhone, iPad, or Android, follow those instructions:
- Refresh the page.
- Close most of browser tabs except for the one you're using for YouTube.
- Make sure your phone isn't on airplane mode.
- Connect to WI-FI, LTE, or 3G (if available).
- Restart your browser app.
- Restart your device.
- Try viewing the video on a different device.
