YouTube Says Videos Are Blurry for Some iOS Users, But a Fix Is Coming - MacRumors
Skip to Content

YouTube Says Videos Are Blurry for Some iOS Users, But a Fix Is Coming

Are you watching blurry YouTube videos? You're not alone. YouTube has acknowledged that some users are experiencing issues with videos playing back at unexpectedly low quality.

According to a YouTube support page, affected users are seeing videos default to 144p or 360p resolution, despite having strong internet connections.

General YouTube Feature Redux

We're aware some of you are experiencing lower than usual video quality when trying to watch Videos and Shorts.

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!

When attempting to manually increase the resolution, many users report that videos begin buffering. It sounds like the issue is pretty widespread, but Android users appear to have been spared for the most part.

YouTube hasn't provided a timeline for a fix, but we'll update this article with any new information as it becomes available.

Tag: YouTube

Popular Stories

General YouTube Feature Redux

Apple Responds to Lawsuit Filed by Three YouTube Channels

Thursday July 2, 2026 7:47 pm PDT by
Earlier this year, three YouTube channels sued Apple, alleging that the company violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by unlawfully accessing and scraping millions of copyrighted YouTube videos to train its AI models. In a class action lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in April, the owners of the YouTube channels...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 17, 2026 10:39 am PDT by
It is now mid-July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are now just two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in 8 Countries

Friday July 17, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple has increased the price of iCloud+ in Nigeria, Türkiye, Vietnam, Japan, Egypt, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, according to an updated version of its iCloud support document. Price increases range from 11 percent to 55 percent depending on the plan and the country. Nigeria saw the biggest hike, and a 50GB plan is now ₦1,300, up from ₦900. Türkiye saw the next largest...

Top Rated Comments

18 months ago
Can confirm.
This happens to me since a few weeks even when I set the always load at maximum quality
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
F23 Avatar
18 months ago
how about fixing Higher Picture Quality to actually DO that instead of having to press thru 5 menus to pick 4K
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
18 months ago
I'm reminded of the Mitch Hedberg joke:

“I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside.”
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechWhisperer Avatar
18 months ago
Glad to read this as I thought it was my internet connection to be the culprit. It kind of ruines the gorgeous OLED display of the iPad Pro.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
freezelighter Avatar
18 months ago
They increased YouTube Premium for Switzerland to absurd 39$ per month. And now I watch 144p videos with my 2Gbit/s internet.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Doctor11 Avatar
18 months ago
I thought I was going crazy last week when I was speed testing over 500 down on my phone and couldn't get a YouTube short to load at higher than 144p.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)