YouTube has become an integral part of the daily lives of millions of people all around the world and billions of people visit it every month. Most people use YouTube to watch funny videos or music videos, some use it to learn new stuff but overall everyone enjoys watching their favourite videos on YouTube.
But no one likes it when they are constantly interrupted with random problems which cause abrupt pauses while a YouTube video is playing. Lately, there are many users who have experienced problems as YouTube keeps pausing while playing a video. This problem has been noticed on a variety of devices like desktops, laptops, smartphones and smart TVs.
Why does YouTube keep pausing?
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The primary reason for YouTube to keep pausing abruptly while playing is usually slow internet speeds, this can be overcome by watching the video in lower quality but this isn’t always the case. There are also different causes for videos pausing in different devices like –
- Smartphone – Smartphone users can encounter random pauses on Youtube when there is a problem with their headphone jack or there is a problem with the YouTube app.
- Desktop – For desktop/laptop users there could an app that is running in the background which is causing problems or there could be problems with the browser or the extensions which are installed in it.
What to do when YouTube keeps pausing?
Before you try any of the tricks mentioned below, make sure that your internet speed is sufficient enough to stream videos from YouTube. Google recommends having at least a 1.1 Mbps connection speed to stream 480p and at least 2.5 Mbps connection speed to stream 720p quality videos. So adjust the quality of the video according to your internet speed.
Also if YouTube keeps pausing on your phone, then make sure that you are on the latest version on the Youtube app. If your internet speed is up to the mark and the app is updated to the latest version and YouTube still keeps pausing continuously then move on to the tricks below –
1. Check headphone jack
Smartphones have this cool feature when a user disconnects the earphones the music automatically pauses. But if there is a problem with your earphones or the earphone jack which will then continuously cause the earphone to plug & unplug from the phone. So this will cause YouTube to pause the video because the phone is recognizing that the earphone was unplugged so the music/video is being paused.
To know particularly if there is a problem with your earphones or your earphone jack, try plugging in your earphones on another phone and check if you notice any abnormalities. You can also check on your phone with another earphone and then take the necessary steps of replacing the earphones or the earphone jack.
2. Clear memory & cache
If your phone memory is too low, then if many apps are running in the background it could cause the YouTube app to hang which would pause because of that the YouTube app keeps on pausing. Close all the apps which are running in the background and you will see that YouTube run smoothly.
Also, if the cache of the apps hasn’t been cleared in a long time, then that could also cause the YouTube app to malfunction. You could go to the app info of the Youtube app and clear its cache or you could go to the storage option in system settings and clear all apps and system cache by tapping once on the cache broken-down option.
If YouTube is still pausing continuously then if it’s possible you could try uninstalling and then reinstalling the app, hope these solutions help you fix your problem with YouTube.
3. Stop background apps
Similarly, for desktop & laptop users, you should check your Task Manager and notice all the apps which are running in the background and are using up too many resources. Close those tasks and then try again streaming videos from YouTube.
4. Use Extensions & Addons
You are playing some video on YouTube and suddenly it pauses and asks you if you are still watching? If you have faced this then it can be pretty infuriating because it happens often and causes annoyance. Use extensions like YouTube NonStop for Chrome and Firefox to bypass the annoying ‘Video paused. Continue watching?’ prompt.
