YouTube aware of video playback errors on iOS, promises fix

YouTube, the world’s go-to platform for everything from cat videos to cooking tutorials, is once again wrestling with a recurring and mysterious error. Over the years, users have occasionally encountered frustrating error messages like “An error has occurred. Please try again,” “Video unavailable,” or the equally infuriating “Something went wrong. Tap to retry.” The platform’s latest bout with these issues seems to have kicked off in mid-2024, and while they usually get fixed quietly behind the scenes, they have an uncanny knack for making a comeback.

Last month, YouTube officially acknowledged the problem. But — and here’s the twist — they’re currently focusing their investigative efforts on iOS devices. Cue the collective groan from desktop and browser users, who are also reporting these errors.

YouTube’s response started trickling in on December 17, with the team addressing reports of videos refusing to play on iPhones and iPads. Users have complained of being greeted by the same old error messages, leaving them unable to watch their favorite creators. The platform promised to look into it and provide updates as soon as possible.

Hi Everyone,

We’ve received reports from some of you experiencing trouble playing videos on your mobile IOS devices. You might see error messages like “An error has occurred. Please Try again” or “Something went wrong. Tap to retry.”

We’re looking into this issue and will post updates here as soon as we have more information.

Thanks so much for your patience!

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and while the acknowledgment has somewhat placated iOS users, others are chiming in from their desktops, wondering why their grievances seem to be taking a backseat. Despite YouTube’s assurances, new reports of the issue continue to crop up. Some users managed to bypass the issue by logging out of their accounts. Another lamented that deleting and reinstalling the YouTube app didn’t help, with the error stubbornly persisting. Even more puzzling, some users report that the issue only affects one of their accounts, leaving their backup profiles running without a hitch.

While YouTube is busy investigating, the silence on a broader fix has left users speculating and refreshing their feeds in hopes of smoother playback. It’s not clear why the platform seems to be laser-focused on iOS devices when desktop users are also feeling the burn. Could it be a case of prioritizing mobile users because they’re a larger chunk of the audience? Or is the problem on browsers just a smaller piece of the puzzle?

Let’s just hope it doesn’t take a viral meme campaign to get their attention. In the meantime, switching accounts or devices might offer a temporary reprieve.

Stay tuned for updates as YouTube works to sort this out.