Recently, a few Android users have been facing problems while watching videos on YouTube. The YouTube app for Android shows a black screen whenever a video is played. If you’re experiencing the same problem and can’t get past the black screen, try this troubleshooting.
1. Relaunch the YouTube app
If you can’t see the video but can hear the audio, you need to relaunch the YouTube app. Older versions of the YouTube app had this problem; it’s possible that your phone has the same problematic app.
Relaunching the app will remove bugs & glitches that may be preventing the video from playing. So, open the App Switcher and close the YouTube app. Once closed, open it again and play the video.
2. Force Stop the YouTube app
If relaunching the YouTube app does not work, you can try force-stopping it. Force-stopping will eliminate all services and tasks run by the YouTube app in the background.
1. Long-press the YouTube app icon and select App Info.
2. Tap on Force Stop.
3. Once done, reopen the YouTube app on your phone and play the video.
3. Restart your Android Phone
System-level bugs or glitches can also interfere with YouTube’s video playback on a phone, and a simple restart can deal with such problems.
To restart your Android phone, press and hold the Power button and select Restart. After the restart, open the YouTube app and play a video.
4. Uninstall the YouTube App Updates
Since YouTube is a system app, you can’t uninstall and reinstall it. The best thing you can do is uninstall the recent app updates.
1. Long-press the YouTube app icon and select App info.
2. Tap the three dots at the top right corner.
3. Select Uninstall Updates.
5. Disable and Re-Enable the YouTube App
If uninstalling the YouTube app updates didn’t help, you can try disabling and re-enabling the app.
1. Long-press the YouTube app icon and tap App Info.
2. Tap Disable.
3. On the confirmation prompt, tap on Disable App.
4. Wait for about a minute and tap Enable.
6. Clear the YouTube App Cache
This is the last thing you can do to resolve YouTube showing a black screen on Android. You need to do this to remove the corrupted or outdated cache files saved by the YouTube app.
1. Long-press the YouTube app icon and select App Info.
2. Select Storage Usage.
3. Select Clear Cache.
These are some general workarounds to fix the YouTube app showing the black screen issue. If you need more help on this topic, let us know in the comments.
