YouTube does not work on Android: fix it in 5 minutes

Android is one of the most popular mobile OS in the world. In recent years, it has been distinguished by a high level of stability, optimization and functionality. But even the most well-developed product is not able to get rid of glitches. One of these problems is that YouTube does not work on Android. In case of an error, there is no need to panic, reset the settings or run to the service center.

Here is a universal instruction, suitable for all Android devices: Alcatel, Asus, Lenovo, Meizu, Philips, Nokia, Oppo, Phillips, Prestigio, Sony Xperia, HTC, Samsung, Xiaomi (Redme), ZTE, BQ, Vertex, Micromax, Digma , Fly, Umidigi, Oukitel, Texet, Leagoo, Dexp, Doogie, Huawei (Honor), HomTom, Chinese No-Name, sold under the Megafon, Beeline, MTS brands. Relevant for tablets, Android radios and TV set-top boxes.

The problem can be solved with several simple methods.

YouTube fault statistics:

11/12/2020 – the problem was observed at night (Moscow time) for 3-4 hours
12/14/2020 – servers were down from 14:40 to 15:45 Moscow time. – almost 1 hour. Google Account services have crashed and a failure occurred in one of Google's root data centers in Atlanta. 86% of users could not log into their accounts, 13 percent had difficulty searching. 49% of users could not open YouTube, and 45% could not play videos.

Google services have crashed massively - there is an elementary solution. Go to incognito mode in your browser and open YouTube. Voila!

Causes

You can find out why YouTube does not work for watching videos on a tablet or phone by analyzing the behavior of the system and possible reasons:

Make sure the date and time are set correctly.
Something with the Internet on the device or the provider is blocking access to video content (for security reasons or to save traffic).
Something happened with the YouTube servers, but this happens very rarely - once every six months. But in 2020-2021 this has become more frequent.
Updates are one of the most common ailments. If the utility stops working correctly after downloading changes in the software code, then there is a high probability that the reason lies precisely in them. Sometimes when starting YouTube it gives an error. The whole point is that the developers also make inaccuracies. They may not handle compatibility correctly, causing the device to not interact correctly with the utility. The system does not understand how to correctly reproduce information and crashes.
A cache is a database of temporary files that sometimes simply clog up the OS (they must be deleted in a timely manner). It may cause an error when starting YouTube. Any OS interacts with the cache, but if its size becomes too large, then unnecessary files simply interfere with work. The utility is not capable of processing large amounts of information at once (some of it is unnecessary) and generates an error.
YouTube consumes a lot of memory and processor resources for reading and processing graphic information, while a precise time is allotted for launching (at the end of 20 seconds, Android closes the frozen application).
Lack of RAM - another application does not allow the system to function stably, taking all resources for itself. Often in this situation we are talking about viruses or other malware.

Why Youtube does not work on Android in Crimea

Many American and European companies have imposed sanctions on the use of their products in Crimea due to the political situation. This was the first reason why YouTube stopped working on Android on the peninsula. After Russia blocked the Telegram messenger and more than 20 thousand Google IP addresses, the situation worsened. Now residents of Crimea need to use VPN programs to be able to use Google and Telegram services. There are a lot of applications to bypass prohibitions - download the one that suits you and use it to gain access to prohibited sites.

Self-diagnosis

To diagnose yourself, take the test. The virtual assistant will identify the problem and tell you what to do.

Are the date and time set correctly?

Correct! Wrong!

Be sure to check it out! The date and time must be set correctly. If it doesn’t help, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Have you rebooted your phone?

Correct! Wrong!

In 85% of cases, rebooting helps restore YouTube functionality. If it doesn’t help, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Installed an update to the YouTube app and started having problems?

Correct! Wrong!

You can try rolling back YouTube to the old version (in the application settings) or wait until the glitches are fixed and a new update is rolled out. Usually developers immediately find out about the problem and fix the errors within 24 hours. If you cannot roll back to the old version, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Have you reinstalled the YouTube app?

Correct! Wrong!

Uninstall the utility through the settings and download it from the Play Market again. If it doesn’t help, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

The servers may be overloaded, please wait 15 to 30 minutes.

Correct! Wrong!

If you have already waited, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Have you checked the remaining traffic in the package?

Correct! Wrong!

It may be due to the lack of Internet on the device; it is worth checking the availability of the service. If there is still traffic, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Have you tried doing a factory reset?

Correct! Wrong!

Sometimes this eliminates software errors. Instructions for resetting settings. If you have already done this, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Have you tried updating or reflashing your device?

Correct! Wrong!

The new firmware fixes software glitches and allows you to establish communication. If you have updated, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

Has the phone been dropped or repaired?

Correct! Wrong!

When dropped or repaired, the motherboard can be damaged, and then glitches begin. If it didn’t crash, click the “Continue diagnostics” button.

YouTube doesn't work. The only help here is repair in a workshop or buying a new device.

It's time for repairs or to the store, the problem is clearly not in the software part, you can't fix it with your own hands.

Be sure to try to complete all steps in turn.

Check the time and date
Restart your smartphone.
Delete and download YouTube again.
Check the availability of the service; perhaps the provider has blocked access to video content.
Update your smartphone to the latest available firmware.
Do a factory reset (Warning! You may lose all data). Instructions for resetting settings.

Share your Results:

Ways to solve the problem

Youtube does not load or open, there is no connection, what should I do to restore the platform?

Clearing data in the application . The goal is to delete temporary files.

To clear the memory of your phone (tablet), find the “Applications” option in the settings.
Click on the “All” tab, a list of programs will open, find YouTube.
In the list of functions, select “Clear cache” or “Delete data”.
Reboot your device.

If the problem is not resolved, move on to the next method.

Complete reinstallation of the application.

To remove YouTube and updates, open the “Applications” section in Settings and remove the program.
Restart your smartphone or tablet and install YouTube again. All temporary files will be lost.

Resetting your smartphone/tablet to factory settings.

If an error occurs in the youtube application and the above methods do not help, you will have to reset your device. This will completely delete the information stored on your phone, so make sure you save the data you need beforehand. Use synchronization with Google Drive cloud storage or Mi account.

To return to the original settings, go to Settings, select the “Backup and reset” option.
Click “Reset settings”.
After the reset, turn off and on the phone, restore deleted programs and access to your google account.

If the phone is rooted.

Root rights are access to the main administrator account, which gives the right to a number of features that are not available in standard mode: connection to working with system files, changing key settings, etc.

Incorrect use of root rights can lead to Android malfunctions, freezing and blocking of programs. In this case:

We delete the application.
Download Youtube in apk format from an unofficial page. We install. Before downloading, make sure the site is reliable and check the downloaded program for viruses.
If you can’t turn off your phone, reset the settings using the recovery method.

The application says that an error has occurred and the window does not close.

Sometimes the Android OS freezes and you can’t change anything: go to the menu, go to settings, go back. In this case, the only option is to reboot. If you can restart your phone, launch YouTube again. If the system detects an error, follow the steps mentioned above in the article.

Other information is interfering with the application.

Clearing data in the application

If you find a problem, try clearing the cache and deleting interfering files that load Google Play services.

Instructions:

Go to the system settings menu and find the “Applications” line.
Open the full list of all programs by tapping on the “All” inscription at the top of the display.
Among the utilities, find YouTube.
Click on it.
A detailed menu for working with program data will open.
Scroll further and find the words “Clear cache” (the procedure is instant, but on weaker devices it can take a long time, especially if a large amount of information has accumulated in the program).
Scroll up and tap on the “Erase data” line.
Try logging into YouTube; if that doesn’t work, reboot your phone. If glitches continue, it’s not the cache.

Delete YouTube on Android

Like the Android operating system, YouTube is owned by Google, and therefore is most often pre-installed on mobile devices running this OS. In this case, the procedure for deleting the application will be somewhat more complicated than if you installed it yourself - through the Google Play Store or any other available method. Let's start with the last one, that is, the simple one.

Option 1: User Installed Application

If YouTube was installed on a smartphone or tablet by you personally (or someone else), uninstalling it will not be difficult. Moreover, this can be done in one of two available ways.

Method 1: Home screen or menu All applications on Android can be found in the general menu, and the main ones and actively used ones are most often added to the main screen. Wherever YouTube is located, find it and proceed to delete it. This is done as follows.

Tap the YouTube application icon with your finger and do not release it. Wait until a list of possible actions appears below the notification bar.

Still holding the highlighted shortcut, move it to the item indicated by the trash can and the caption “Delete.” “Throw away” the application by releasing your finger.

Confirm deleting YouTube by clicking "OK" in the pop-up window. After a few seconds, the application will be deleted, confirmed by a corresponding notification and a missing shortcut.

Method 2: “Settings” The method described above for uninstalling YouTube on some smartphones and tablets (or rather, on some shells and launchers) may not work - the “Delete” option is not always available. In this case, you will have to go the more traditional route.

In any convenient way, launch the “Settings” of your mobile device and go to the “Applications and Notifications” section (may also be called “Applications”).

On the page with general information about the application, use the “Delete” button, then in the pop-up window, click “OK” to confirm.

Whichever of the proposed methods you use, if YouTube was not initially pre-installed on your Android device, deleting it will not cause any difficulties and will only take a few seconds. The removal of any other applications is carried out in a similar way, and we talked about other methods in a separate article.

Option 2: Pre-installed application

Such a simple removal of YouTube, as in the case described above, is not always possible. Much more often, this application is pre-installed and cannot be uninstalled using conventional means. And yet, if necessary, you can get rid of it.

Method 1: Disabling the YouTube application is far from the only application that Google “politely” asks to be pre-installed on Android devices. Fortunately, most of them can be stopped and disabled. Yes, this action can hardly be called a complete deletion, but it will not only free up space on the internal drive, since all data and cache will be erased, but will also completely hide the video hosting client from the operating system.

Repeat the steps described in steps No. 1-2 of the previous method.

Having found YouTube in the list of installed applications and going to the page with information about it, first tap on the “Stop” button and confirm the action in the pop-up window,

and then click “Disable” and provide your consent to “Disable the application”, then tap “OK”.

YouTube will be cleared of data, reset to its original version and disabled. The only place where you will be able to see its shortcut will be “Settings”, or rather, a list of all applications. If desired, you can always turn it back on.

Launch the application.
Agree to the terms of the license agreement that appears. To do this, just click on the “Accept” button.
A list of applications installed on your phone will immediately appear. Select the ones you want to delete.
Grant the program administrator rights; to do this, just click on the button of the same name.
From the menu, select the “Delete” option and wait for this operation to complete.

Complete reinstallation of the application

If clearing data does not help, you need to completely uninstall the application and all the latest updates.

Step-by-step instruction:

Go to "Applications" in the settings section.
Find YouTube.
Click delete.
Restart your phone and download the service again.

In such a situation, all versions of the program that have been updated during use are deleted.

How to find the source of the failure

These symptoms indicate that YouTube is most likely not working due to a malfunction or incorrect settings or functionality on your phone or tablet:

The crash occurred after changing system settings, updating firmware, installing applications from Google Play and other sources, uninstalling, updating or reinstalling system applications.
Similar problems exist in various programs.
Phone from Huawei, Xiaomi, Meizu, etc. was purchased overseas and intended for the Chinese market only. As you know, Google services are blocked in China.
Along with YouTube problems, there are other signs of malfunction or malfunction of the device: inaccessibility of some system functions, spontaneous shutdowns, reboots, freezes, errors.

And these signs indicate that the failure is in the application itself:

It does not download, does not install, does not connect to the server, but the Youtube video hosting site opens normally and works in a mobile browser.
It stopped working after updating or reinstalling.
Antiviruses “mock” it.
Other mobile services of Youtube - Music, For children, Creative studio, etc. work fine.

Reasons related to network settings and YouTube's access to the Internet may include:

The failure occurs when the network settings are changed or the gadget is connected to the network of another operator.
There is no access to the Internet in other applications.
Serious reduction in Internet speed - the speed may not be sufficient for normal video playback.
The problem occurs when using VPN services.

Reset to factory settings

An extreme method, but the most effective.

This method will delete all data and programs already downloaded to the smartphone. It is recommended to first create a backup of the system and copy all photos and important files to a separate medium.

Method number 1:

Go to Settings and open Backup & Reset.
Find the Reset tab. After opening, the built-in service for deleting information will open.
After that, the device will reboot, and you will need to log in to your Google account again and download the program to the device (you can use a backup).

Method No. 2 – android recovery:

Turn off the device and simultaneously press the “Home – Power – Volume up” keys or simply “Power – Volume” (if there is no “Home”).
Once the screen is activated, release "Power" but hold the others for another 10-20 seconds.
Use the Volume buttons to select “Wipe data/factory reset”, and Power to select.
Follow further instructions.

You need to be careful with the Andoird operating system.

Additional Tips

Check for updates - a new software version may fix the problem.

Another reason is Android itself. Perhaps the developers have released an additional patch to fix the “illnesses” of your version - update the system.

Check the reviews under the program in the Market. If there are many complaints in the comments about a similar situation, then there is only one way out - to wait.

What to do if updates are not installed?

For what reasons can installation problems occur? Firstly, there is insufficient free memory. Owners of gadgets on the Android platform often encounter this problem. An advantage here is the seemingly illogical requirement of the device to free up, for example, 100 megabytes for a program that weighs 5. Of course, this way the system reserves space for temporary files and cache, but when you urgently need to install something, space for the cache is the last thing that worries . Therefore, regularly free up space and delete application cache. I also highly recommend transferring all the applications you can to a flash drive.

Secondly, at a certain moment it becomes necessary to update not the YouTube version, but the phone itself, which simply does not support the new one. This is also the reason.

See also how to update YouTube on your TV in the corresponding article.