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Summary – It is highly frustrating when you are unable to play YouTube videos on your Android device. You might have seen errors like ‘Tap to retry’ or ‘Connection to server lost.’ There can be distinct reasons behind such errors. Follow this post to know more about the YouTube videos not playing issue and discover easy fixes to resolve it.
Nowadays, online video streaming platforms have become highly popular among users, and YouTube is among the most used video streaming platforms. Mostly, users prefer to watch YouTube videos on their mobiles, and majorly they are Android users. Around 70% of YouTube videos watch time comes from mobile devices.
But sometimes, while surfing YouTube, you experience that videos are not playing on Android devices. It shows complicated error messages such as ‘Connection to server lost,’ ‘There was a problem while playing,’ ‘Tap to retry,’ or videos may keep buffering. Even some users reported a black screen issue when play videos.
Reasons behind YouTube videos not playing on android
In this post, we will look at several reasons behind this issue and fix them using different methods. Let’s start with understanding why YouTube videos are not playing on Android:
- Outdated YouTube version
- Issues with the Internet connection
- Corrupted Cache data
- Incorrect Time and Date
- Third-party app issues
- The issue with the YouTube server
- Outdated Android OS version
Solutions for YouTube videos not playing on android
We have discussed all the major causes behind the error, so it’s time to fix it. Let’s proceed with all practical solutions to fix YouTube videos not playing on Android.
Note – Before using these solutions, firstly check the server status of YouTube because if it is facing downtime, you need to wait before trying to replay the videos.
Mostly, YouTube is unable to play videos because of poor Internet connection. Thus, first, check your device is properly connected to a Wi-Fi network or mobile data. After that, confirm whether Wi-Fi is performing as expected or not. To check it, you can use speed test software. If you find any issue with your Wi-Fi network, follow the below steps to fix it.
- Open Settings of your Android device and click on Wi-Fi/Connections option.
- Now click on the connected network to open its details.
- Click on the Forget Network option.
- If you are using a Wi-Fi router, look for a WPS/Reset button and press it to reset your router.
- Now, go back to the Wi-Fi option, click on the same network, and enter the password.
- Once connected, try to play videos on YouTube.
Still, if it is not working, you can connect to your Internet Service Provider for further help.
Sometimes, the incorrect date and time settings of your device affect the applications installed on it. It can also occur with Google apps like YouTube. To set the correct date and time on your device, follow the below steps:
- Open Settings of your Android device.
- Find out the Date and Time option or search it on the Settings search bar.
- Now turn on the ‘Use network provide time’ and ‘Use network provided time zone’ options.
- After enabling both these options, wait for a moment as the correct time and date update automatically.
Most of the time, the video loading problem on YouTube is because of the app’s cache accumulation. There is always a high possibility that clearing the cache will fix this issue. To clear the cache of your YouTube application, follow the below steps:
- Open Settings of your Android device and find out the Apps option.
- Click on the Manage apps option and scroll down to the YouTube app, and tap on it.
- Now tap on Storage and then click on >Clear Data.
- Select Clear Cache, then restart the device to check whether YouTube videos are playing fine or not.
If your Internet connectivity is slow and you set the video quality to a high resolution, you will experience buffering or take a lot of time to load. To modify the resolution of a video on YouTube, follow the below steps:
- Click on the Gear icon situated in the top right corner of the playing video.
- From the drop-down menu, click on the Quality option and select Advanced.
- Now select the least video quality, such as 240p or 144p.
- Check whether the video is playing or not after decreasing the video quality.
Once the video plays smoothly, you can change the video quality to high resolution. However, if this method won’t work, try the next one.
If there is an outdated version of any application, you may experience issues with its functionalities. Similarly, you should not use the outdated version of YouTube. To update it, follow the below steps:
- Open Google Play Store on your device.
- Click on your Avatar at the top right corner.
- Tap on the Manage apps and device option.
- Now click on the updates available option and check if the YouTube update is available or not.
- If available, click on it to start the update.
- Once YouTube has updated successfully, check if the videos are now playing or not.
If your Android device’s software is not updated for a long time, it may be causing issues with the performance of the installed apps like YouTube. To update your device to the latest software version, follow the below steps:
- Open Settings of your Android device and click on the System option.
- Now click on the Advanced option and select System Updates.
- Check whether an update is available or your device is up to date.
- If available, click on the Install tab, and the updating will start
You can try to reset your system’s app preferences to solve this issue. This method will change all the app permissions to their default settings. To reset app preferences, follow the below steps:
- Open Settings of your Android device and click on the System option.
- Now click on the Advanced option and select the Reset option.
- Now click on Reset app preferences.
- A pop-up will appear for the confirmation; select the Reset Apps option in it.
This process will reset all the app data and can also fix the YouTube videos not playing issue.
If you still face YouTube videos not playing issue, the problem might be with your device’s software. Any error or glitch in your Android OS can affect the performance of the installed apps. In this situation, a factory reset is the best solution. But before doing it, move all your device’s essential data and documents to another device or cloud storage. To perform a factory reset, follow the below-discussed steps:
- Open Settings of your Android device and select the Backup and Reset option.
- Enable the Back up my data option to create a backup.
- Once the backup completed, click on the Factory reset option.
- Now click on Erase all data to confirm your choice.
- Once the process completed, your device will restart and check if the YouTube videos are playing fine.
So, these are the solutions to fix the videos not playing issue on YouTube error. You can try these solutions even if the YouTube downloaded videos are not playing. With the help of these solutions, you can surely come out of this issue and eliminate all the causes stopping you from streaming videos on YouTube. But if the downloaded YouTube video is corrupt, you need to go with an automated tool discussed below.
An automated tool to repair corrupt video files
Sometimes the downloaded YouTube videos do not play even after using the above solutions. When you use a video downloader app to download videos from YouTube, there are possibilities that those files can get corrupted. In this situation, you need a reliable and advanced video repair tool. We suggest you use the Kernel Video repair tool to quickly repair corrupted video files of various formats. Its user-friendly GUI and design make the repairing process easy and quick. It supports all video file formats and physical drives like HDD, SDD, etc., and repairs multiple video files simultaneously. Overall, it is a perfect tool to fix common video errors like downloaded YouTube videos not playing on Android issue.
Conclusion
I hope the above-discussed solutions help you in solving the YouTube videos not playing on Android error. Sometimes, this error can be solved simply by restarting the YouTube app or your Android device. But if the error keeps coming back, you can try the solutions mentioned in this blog. Also, to repair a damaged or corrupted video file, you can use a dedicated tool like Kernel for Video Repair.