Can’t access YouTube to watch your favorite videos? The first question you probably have is, “is YouTube down, or is it me?” this guide will walk you through the steps to help you figure out if there is a YouTube outage or if the problem is on your end. In both cases, we will let you know what you can do when YouTube is offline or inaccessible.
Is YouTube Down? Here is How to Know
We suggest you visit Downdetector.com to check on if YouTube is offline. The YouTube status is displayed close to the top of the page. Under it, a graph shows you trends in user error reports over the past 24 hours. A major spike in the graph suggests a problem that is not simply on the user’s end. Scrolling down a little further lets you view percentages of reported problems for the website, app, or streaming. You can then check the comments below that to see if anyone else is experiencing the same issue that you are.
By pulling together all of this information, you should be able to figure out whether YouTube is down or if it is just you. But sometimes, even if you do not see other users reporting a problem, it could still be that YouTube is down. You might just be the first to notice.
Is YouTube Down Right Now? Here is What to Do
YouTube itself does not offer any official recommendations for what to do when you are having a hard time streaming videos or accessing the site. But you can try some standard recommendations for troubleshooting.
If you are pretty sure there is a YouTube outage, there is no reason to do this. But if you think it might be you, you can try any of the following:
- Checking your connection
- Looking for ISP problems
- Rebooting your device
- Restarting the app
- Reinstalling the app
- Clearing your cache
- Updating your browser
- Turning off hardware acceleration
- Updating drivers
- Resolving conflicts with other apps
If you think the YouTube down problem is with YouTube and not you, you will need to wait for YouTube to fix it. You can try speeding that process along by contacting customer support. This page at YouTube provides the steps for reporting an issue on your computer, Android, or iOS device.
Since YouTube is one of the biggest websites on the Internet, it should not take too long for YouTube outage problems to be fixed in most cases. Try checking back in an hour or two to see if you can once again stream videos.