It’s been a long and tiring day at work, and you desperately need to unwind. You return home, freshen up, change into something more comfortable and make yourself a cup of hot coffee. You open the YouTube app on your phone, eager to watch the next episode of your favorite web series or stand up comedian, only to find the YouTube Not Working. Frustrated? We’d be surprised if you aren’t.

On such an occasion, what one would normally do is to uninstall the app, and then install it back on their phone. But that may rarely be the solution to your problem, as the real reason behind the malfunction lies elsewhere. Before moving on to troubleshooting, here’s some trivia that one should know. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in early 2005, and was later bought by Google in the late 2006.

How to Fix YouTube Not Working Error

Since then, it has come a long, long way. As of 2017, YouTube is the world’s largest online video website with a massive 1,300,000,000 users – which is essentially 18.6% of the whole world’s population. So, it very well may be possible for the YouTube to not work properly sometimes.

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YouTube Not Working? Here’s How to Fix It

The following are the plausible reasons for the app to malfunction, along with their respective solutions:

Solution 1 ⇒ Full or Broken Caches and Cookies

One of the most common reasons for malfunctioning of the YouTube app, full or broken caches and cookies will prevent you from playing YouTube videos properly…

Corresponding Solution – All you’ve got to do is to clear your browser caches and cookies, and you’re good to go. Here’s how to go about it:

Step 1 ⇒ 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 that “Cached Images and Files” and “cookies and other site data” are checked. And then click on the “CLEAR BROWSING DATA“.

In Firefox

Step 1 ⇒ Click the Menu button and then Options. Now, go to “Advanced” move to “Network” tab, and then click on “Clear Now” beside “Cached Web Content.”

In iPhone/iPad

Step 1 ⇒ Go to Settings, scroll down and click Safari, and then press “Clear History and Website Data.”

In Android

Step 1 ⇒ Open its default browser and press menu. Then, choose Privacy & security and touch Clear cache and Cookies.

Solution 2 ⇒ Outdated Adobe Flash Player

Another common browser issue that causes YouTube to stop working is an outdated version of the Adobe Flash Player. In this case, YouTube will send a pop-up message asking you to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

Click on the Adobe website link that YouTube brings up, and then simply follow the instructions to download the update.

Solution 3 ⇒ Extensions and Plugins

Another cause behind the YouTube app to not work may be the extensions and plugins installed in your computer browser. In a certain way, this is true for YouTube download plugins, ad blockers, and website accelerators.

Here, let’s take Chrome as an example. Go to the Menu option of Chrome browser, scroll down to More tools, choose Extensions, and then disable the plugins mentioned above. If you really need to download YouTube videos, you may download a desktop-based YouTube video downloader which won’t affect the performance of YouTube.

Solution 4 ⇒ Slow/unstable Internet Connection

YouTube videos require a fast and stable internet connection in order to play at optimum levels. If your network connection is poor, long-time buffering will occur in the videos, making it more difficult to watch.

Step 1 ⇒ Stop all other downloading tasks, including the programs that are accessing web as well as other browsers and in your browser tabs.

Step 2 ⇒ Choose a low-quality option. YouTube often provides many quality options to select based on your needs. Click the Settings icon, choose Quality, and then select a quality lower than previous choice.

Step 3 ⇒ Watch YouTube offline. Switch to a free YouTube downloader, and download the required video for smooth offline playback, so as to get rid of the control of internet connection.

Step 4 ⇒ Try a different network if possible.

Solution 5 ⇒ Firewall Blockage

The firewall used to keep a network secure will sometimes block YouTube videos. YouTube not loading error  may be caused by a third-party firewall software like McAfee and Comodo.

First of all, disable the suspicious firewall software and then restart your browser to check if the YouTube is Not Working error gets fixed. And also, add YouTube to the list of authorized websites or uninstall this firewall program.

Solution 6 ⇒ Other Issues and Fixes

If the YouTube site doesn’t work on your computer because of  errors such as “500 Internal Server Error“, “403 Error” or a message saying “Sorry, something went wrong,” then try the fixes below:

Step 1 ⇒ Refresh the Web page.

Step 2 ⇒ Close most of the browser tabs except for the one you’re using for YouTube.

Step 3 ⇒ Restart your browser.

Step 4 ⇒ Restart your router.

Step 5 ⇒ Reboot your computer.

Step 6 ⇒ Update your browser to the newest version.

Step 7 ⇒ Switch to Google Chrome if you use another browser.

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 Conclusion

These were some of the most common reasons for the YouTube is Not Working Issue, along with their possible solutions. So what are you waiting for? Go watch your favourite videos, problem-free, before your coffee goes cold.