YouTube Investigating Low-Quality Video Playback Issues on iOS

Highlights

• iPhone and iPad users face issues with YouTube videos playing at low resolutions like 144p and 360p.
• Google is investigating widespread complaints and has listed potential symptoms.
• The cause remains unconfirmed with speculations linking it to a recent iOS update.
• Google assures users that updates will be shared once available.

YouTube users on iPhones and iPads are facing frustrating video playback issues with videos and Shorts loading in low quality despite having a strong internet connection. Some users report videos playing at 144p, 240p or 360p, making for a poor viewing experience.

Google has officially acknowledged the issue in a Community Help forum post, stating, “We’re aware some of you are experiencing lower than usual video quality when trying to watch Videos and Shorts.” The company is actively investigating the problem.

The company explained, “Here’s what you might be seeing:

“YouTube streaming at 144p or 360p despite strong internet connection

Buffering when changing to higher quality

Video quality could be impacted on IOS mobile, desktop, or Smart TV

Rest assured, we’re actively looking into this!”

While the issue seems to be most widespread on iOS and iPadOS, some users have also reported similar problems on desktops and smart TVs, though these cases appear to be less frequent.

A Reddit user speculated that the issue started after a recent iOS update from Apple, but YouTube has not confirmed this as the cause. The problem has sparked thousands of complaints, with over 2,000 comments on YouTube’s official help post and numerous Reddit threads discussing the issue.

One user notes, “Every video I click on YouTube the quality automatically sets to 144p even if I try to manually change it higher, it just reverts back to 144p.”

At the moment, there’s no fix available but Google has assured users that it will update the community post with “new information” as soon as it’s available.

FAQs

Q1. What issues are YouTube users facing on iOS devices?

Answer. Users on iPhones and iPads are experiencing low-quality video playback, with videos loading at resolutions like 144p or 360p, despite having strong internet connections.

Q2. How has Google responded to these iOS playback issues?

Answer. Google has acknowledged the issue in a Community Help forum post and confirmed it is actively investigating the problem while promising updates as they become available.

Q3. Are only iOS devices affected by the YouTube Shorts video quality issue?

Answer. While most reports come from iOS and iPadOS users, some desktop and smart TV users have also reported similar low-quality playback problems, though less frequently.

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