For better or worse, YouTube is my chosen drug when it comes to streaming. I do occasionally watch services like Disney+ and Prime Video, but when I’m not spending time with my family, I’d usually rather pursue weightlifting, EUCs, or gaming. In fact, speaking of my hobbies, it’s only YouTube that provides me much content to watch about them. I couldn’t have learned how to sumo deadlift by watching Netflix.
As you might imagine then, I’m pretty familiar with how to troubleshoot the service, whether it’s on my phone, tablet, PC, or TV. If you’re having trouble with a steady viewing experience, you might want to try some of these tips.
Restarting the app (or a device)
The quickest option
Whenever any version of the YouTube app (or a web browser) launches, it has to initiate various processes, and update local cache files as necessary. Sometimes, bugs can lead to functional or performance problems, such as trouble fetching your subscription feeds. Restarting an app won’t clear its cache (see the next tip), but it will force processes to start from scratch, which might be all you need.
If you think broader resource usage may be at fault, it might be worth restarting your device. That will force not just YouTube to start from clean(er) slate, but the operating system as well. You’ll empty RAM, restart OS-level processes, and in some circumstances wipe temporary system caches as well. You should actually be restarting devices semi-regularly for this reason.
Clearing the app’s cache
Unlikely to help, but worth mentioning
Under most circumstances, clearing YouTube’s cache won’t make streaming any more reliable. But if outdated, redundant, or corrupt files accumulate, they can not only bog down the app, but lead to crashes or other glitchy behavior.
Note that on iPhones and iPads, there’s no direct way to clear the app’s cache. But on Android devices, you can go to Settings -> Apps, find YouTube, then select Storage & cache -> Clear cache. TVs and media streamers have their own cache controls, as do web browsers like Safari and Chrome.
Restarting Wi-Fi or cellular
Latching on to a better signal
Restarting Wi-Fi or cellular on your device might sound counterintuitive, since you’re probably going to be rejoining the same hotspot or tower. Behind the scenes, however, there’s a lot going on. Some Wi-Fi routers will automatically bounce you between their 2.4, 5, and/or 6GHz bands, with 2.4GHz providing the most range, and 6GHz the most speed. Bands also rely on channels that can become congested. If you restart Wi-Fi, you may be redirected to a superior band/channel combination. More rarely, restarting cellular might force a device to connect to a stronger tower signal.
When you’re at home, restarting your modem and router can potentially improve things, for instance by establishing a fresh connection with your ISP, or forcing all of your Wi-Fi devices to reconnect simultaneously. I’d recommend unplugging both your modem and router (assuming they’re separate), then waiting at least 30 seconds before you reconnect your modem. Once that has a solid signal, reconnect your router.
Make use of quality settings or offline caching
One of the only reasons to go Premium
As a rule, it’s best to let YouTube dictate quality for itself using its Auto settings. These attempt to scale video and/or audio quality for the smoothest possible experience given your network connection. You might not like compression artifacts, but there’s a major difference between what’s possible on a 5Mbps connection versus 500Mbps.
When YouTube is struggling on a mobile device, you may need to go to Settings -> Quality and force one or more Data saver options. There may be comparable scaling on your TV. In web browsers, you can click the gear icon during a video to select a lower resolution. Typically I wouldn’t go any lower than 720p, since the quality drop at 480p or below will become very noticeable, and 720p doesn’t consume much bandwidth to begin with.
YouTube Premium subscribers have an additional option on phones and tablets: offline caching. You have to download videos individually, and they all have an expiry date depending on your country, but you’ll get uninterrupted playback once caching is complete. This is practically a must if you want to watch YouTube during trips where hotspots may be hard to come by.
