YouTube is having problems coast to coast today
Over 13,000 YouTube users submitted a complaint to Downdetector this afternoon.
YouTube is having issues today | Image by PhoneArena
So there I was, watching the latest hilarious Brooke and Jeffrey video on the iOS YouTube app (only the really hip and cool know what that is, lol) and my YouTube player kept stopping, leaving me with the buffering indicator spinning on the screen. Well, as a tech writer for 17 years, I did the first thing that came to mind. I opened the Downdetector website and discovered that 13,505 complaints had been submitted to the site by YouTube users by 5:30 PM EDT, up from 44 at 4:44 PM EDT.
55% complained about an issue streaming video on YouTube while 23% had a problem with the app
The latest data shows that 55% of the complaints were from users having an issue with video streaming, while 23% complained about the YouTube app, and 12% had a problem with a server connection. Quite a few YouTube users left comments on Downdetector posting things like, "How am I supposed to work without my YouTube videos on my 2nd monitor."
Downdetector shows a surge of complaints submitted by YouTube viewers on Saturday afternoon. | Image by Downdetector
Constant buffering was the sign that alerted me to the issue
Another comment referenced the buffering issue that I was experiencing: "It works for me if I stare at the loading screen for like 3 minutes every time it buffers (this is a very fun way to watch YouTube, trust me). Some YouTube users were beside themselves having to deal with this issue on a Saturday with a heavy schedule of College Football games.
Cities affected by the YouTube issue included New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and more
The map on Downdetector shows YouTube having serious problems in New York, Washington D.C., Miami, and Los Angeles. Other areas where the video streamer is having problems include:
- Richmond, Virginia
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Dallas, Texas
- Houston, Texas
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Denver, Colorado
Things started returning to normal around dinner time
As the number of submitted complaints on Downdetector dropped back to 254 by 6:52 PM EDT, some users were experiencing slow performance and video quality problems. However, for the most part, everything was working okay and what originally started out looking like a major disaster for YouTube users ended up being a minor inconvenience.
Google has not released any official "post-mortem" that would give us an idea about what caused the problems with YouTube on Saturday.
Poll
16 Votes
How much were you affected by the YouTube issue today?
It ruined my day
25.00%
It didn't affect me at all
37.50%
It could have been worse
37.50%
What was your experience with the YouTube app or website on Saturday? Why not drop us a comment in the box below?
Check out these articles you can read right now:
Popular stories
Latest News
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: