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

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Top Rated Comments

Kissmo1980 Avatar
4 weeks 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)
wanha Avatar
4 weeks 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)
F23 Avatar
4 weeks 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)
TechWhisperer Avatar
4 weeks 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
4 weeks 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
4 weeks 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)