How to fix an iPhone 11 Pro Max YouTube app that can’t play videos

When it comes to wide variety and free video content, YouTube has it. Needless to say, most if not all smartphone owners have YouTube dwelling on the most accessible part of their home screens. Aside from free videos, there’s no complex requirements to use YouTube resources. For as long as your device has a fast and stable internet access, everything should work as intended unless the main YouTube server is experiencing temporary downtimes. Nonetheless, server downtimes rarely happens to YouTube given that it’s well monitored and backed by the internet giant itself. Nonetheless, there are still other factors that can trigger occurrence of random errors when using the application. Tackled in this post is a common issue encountered by many smartphone owners when using YouTube app. And it’s on the YouTube app videos that can’t play videos for some reason. If ever you’d bump into the same issue on your new iPhone 11 Pro Max, I’ve lined up a few handy tweaks for you to use when troubleshooting YouTube app problems. Read on to find out what to do if your iphone 11 Pro Max YouTube app can’t play videos.

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Troubleshooting YouTube app that can’t play videos on an iPhone 11 Pro Max 

400;”>YouTube app is on internet-based platform. That said, it requires a fast and stable internet connection in order to carry out its main functions. If your iPhone is experiencing some sort of network connectivity issues, then that’s what you need to deal with first. Otherwise, try the following procedures to deal with other software-related factors as culprits.

 

First solution: Force close YouTube then restart it.

Apps that are left suspended or running in the background for long can end up going rogue. And the YouTube app is no exception to this. In this case, the next possible solution to try would be to force close the app. This should help if the app had crashed and couldn’t get to restart as it normally does. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen then stop when your finger reaches the middle and pause until the app cards/previews show up.
  2. In the app switcher, swipe sideways to find the YouTube app card/preview.
  3. Swipe up on the card preview to force close the app.

Also consider ending all other background apps using the same steps to prevent any of them from interfering with YouTube app, the next time you launch it.

 

Second solution: Reboot your iPhone (soft reset).

If force closing the app doesn’t solve the problem, then try rebooting your iPhone next. This will help clear out minor system errors that caused apps to glitch and stop working. It doesn’t require backup creation because this process doesn’t affect the internal data. Just follow these steps, whenever you’re all set to soft reset your iPhone 11 Pro Max:

  1. Press and hold both the Side and Volume Up buttons for a few seconds.
  2. Release both buttons when the Slide to Power off bar appears.
  3. Swipe or drag the bar to turn your device off.
  4. After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Side button and then release when the Apple logo appears.

Allow your iPhone to fully established internet connection after it reboots and then retry launching YouTube and play videos.

 

Third solution: Update your YouTube app that can’t play videos.

App updates may also contain the required fix patch if in-app glitches are the underlying cause. Like iOS updates, app updates also embed some dedicated fix patches to get rid of certain bugs that destabilize the app. Just ensure that your phone has internet access, sufficient battery life and memory space beforehand. Then follow these steps to start checking for YouTube app updates on your iPhone 11 Pro Max:

  1. From the Home screen, tap on the App Store icon to open the application.
  2. Tap on Today tab at the bottom. 
  3. Then tap on the user profile icon (Apple ID header) on the top right corner of the screen. You should see the account details. 
  4. Scroll down to the Available Updates section. 
  5. Tap on Update next to the YouTube app to install pending update for the app. 
  6. If multiple app updates are available, tap on Update All to update all apps at once.

When all apps are finished updating, reboot your iPhone to apply the recent software changes and bug fixes. Then reboot your iPhone and relaunch YouTube app. Try playing random videos again to see if they are already working.

 

Fourth solution: Manage your restriction settings on your iPhone.

Another thing you should check is your iPhone’s restrictions setting. Certain apps can’t be loaded up or used if restrictions are enabled on your device. To clear this out, follow these steps to check and manage restrictions on your iPhone 11 Pro Max:

  1. Go to the Home screen, tap Settings.
  2. Select Screen Time.
  3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
  4. Then toggle the switch next to Content & Privacy Restrictions to turn the feature OFF.
  5. If prompted, enter your Screen Time password to confirm and apply the recent changes.

After changing this setting, try loading YouTube and play videos again. If you can play YouTube videos while restrictions are turned off, it denotes the need for you to reconfigure restrictions settings and set it to allow YouTube app.

 

Fifth solution: Reset network settings on your iPhone 11 Pro Max.

As mentioned earlier, random network connection errors are usually the main reason for online apps like YouTube to stop working. To clear this out, performing a network settings reset on your phone can help. This can be considered among the last options if the problem persists after carrying out the previous methods. By performing this reset, you will lose your current network preferences, network settings, saved networks, Bluetooth connections and other relevant information. But it doesn’t affect the internal data, so you don’t need to back them up. Just follow these steps to get started:

  1. Tap Settings from the Home screen. 
  2. Scroll down to and select General
  3. Tap Reset then select Reset network settings option.
  4. Enter your device passcode if prompted. 
  5. Tap Reset network settings again to confirm.

When the reset is finished, your iPhone restarts by itself. Allow it to re-establish Wi-Fi connection and once it’s back online, retry launching YouTube app and play videos.

 

Last resort: Uninstall then reinstall YouTube app on your iPhone.

Complex system errors usually trigger recurring symptoms. To deal with these types of errors, carrying out a full system reset or factory reset is usually needed. However, this may not be a practical solution given that the problem is isolated to an application. In that case, resetting the YouTube app can be considered an option. And this can be done by uninstalling and reinstalling the YouTube app on your iPhone 11 Pro Max. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Go to your iPhone’s Home screen to get started.
  2. Scroll to and find the app that you’d like to reinstall. In this case, find the YouTube app card or preview.
  3. Tap and hold on the app icon for a few seconds. Keep holding the app icon when the pop-up menu appears and then release when the app icon starts to jiggle.
  4. Tap Delete from the warning message. 
  5. Follow the same steps to delete other apps that you’d like to reinstall.
  6. Finally, tap Done on the top-right corner of the screen once you’re done deleting the app.

After deleting the application, restart your iPhone to clear its memory cache and to refresh its system functions. As soon as it boots up and gets back online, continue with these steps to download and install YouTube app via App store:

  1. Tap to open the App Store icon from the Home screen. Doing so will launch the App Store main screen.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom right corner of the screen and then tap Search.
  3. Tap the Games, Apps, Stories, and More field then type in Facebook.
  4. Tap the Search key on the onscreen keyboard to begin the search for the keyed in application. Just enter YouTube to begin the search.
  5. Tap the GET button on the upper-right side.
  6. Tap Install to begin installing the app. You can use your Face ID to authenticate App Store purchase, if necessary.
  7. Enter your Apple ID password to continue.
  8. Then tap the Sign In button.
  9. When the app is finished installing, tap the OPEN button next to YouTube. 

Doing so will trigger the recently installed application to launch. By then you can start playing YouTube videos that you’d like to watch as your pastime. 

Still troubled with your iPhone 11 Pro Max YouTube app that can’t play videos?

The given solutions are usually good enough when dealing with common software-related factors that might have interfered with or hindered YouTube app from playing videos on your iPhone. If none of that helps, then that’s when you should escalate the problem to Google’s YouTube support team.

If the problem only occurs on certain YouTube videos or channels, then that’s more likely and isolated issue with certain videos or YouTube channels. Corrupted video URLs and YT channel maintenance could be the underlying cause. In that case, reporting the problem to the owner of the video or YouTube channel is recommended. 

If all YouTube videos aren’t playing on your iPhone 11 Pro Max, you can also request further assistance from Apple Support to eliminate major iOS barriers to YouTube services on your device. Be sure to relay any error prompts or warning message you get when attempting to play videos on YouTube. This information will be used as a hint in determining what went wrong and what needs to be done in order to fix it.

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