Fixed “YouTube Says You’re Offline” Here’s What to Do

YouTube without an internet connection is not of much use. Unless you have a premium subscription and download clips for offline viewing. Still, you’ll still need an internet connection to download something in the first place. There are reports that YouTube is offline despite the phone being connected to a stable Wi-Fi network. If that happens to you, too, check the instructions we provided below.

Table of contents:

1. Check the network
2. Clear data from YouTube
3. Uninstall updates from YouTube
4. How to watch videos offline on YouTube

Why does YouTube Say I’m Offline?

First, double-check the internet connection and mobile data settings. Also, disable battery optimization to prevent YouTube from disconnecting while working in the background.

You can also clear local data or uninstall updates from YouTube to reset the app. Sideloading an older APK is also an option considering that the latest version might cause the problem due to a bug of sorts.

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1. Check the network

First, you might need to wait a few seconds before YouTube comes back online. If your screen was off and you turn it on, it takes a few seconds for YouTube to connect and refresh the feed or load the clip you’ve been watching. This shouldn’t be the case with the background play but, for that, you’ll need the premium subscription.

Of course, it’s important that you’re connected to a stable Wi-Fi network. If you use mobile data, make sure that the Data saver is disabled and that YouTube has permission to use mobile data in the background.

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Here’s what you need to do if you use mobile data to watch YouTube videos:

1. Open YouTube.
2. Tap on the profile/account picture at the top right corner.
3. Open Settings.
4. Select Data saving and disable Data saving mode.
5. Now, open System Settings.
6. Select Apps.
7. Open YouTube from the list of installed apps.
8. Select Mobile data and allow YouTube to use mobile data in the background.
9. Get back and open Battery optimization. Disable Battery optimization for YouTube.

If you do use Wi-Fi and have some connectivity issues, make sure to check this article where we provide some ways to solve this.

2. Clear data from YouTube

Although YouTube doesn’t pile up a lot of data locally (unless you download videos for offline viewing), it’s still recommended to clear everything from time to time. In comparison to some other apps, this doesn’t have any effect on your data since everything of importance is stored online. After you clear the data, check if YouTube is still offline.

Here’s how to clear data from YouTube on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Open YouTube.
4. Choose Storage.
5. Clear data and restart your device.
6. Open YouTube and check if it’s still offline or not.

3. Uninstall updates from YouTube

If the previous step did nothing, you can reinstall YouTube or, at the least, uninstall updates and try again. On most Android skins, you can only disable and not uninstall YouTube. So, it’s most likely that you can’t remove the app and install it again. What you can do is uninstall updates and re-update the app or, with some extra effort, find an older APK and sideload it.

Here’s how to uninstall updates from YouTube:

1. Once again, open Settings > Apps > YouTube.
2. Tap on the 3-dots menu and Uninstall updates.
3. Now, you have two options. You can open the Play Store and update YouTube. Or you can navigate to APK Mirror and get an older version of YouTube. Just run the APK and allow installation from third-party sources. It’s important to stick to recent versions, not older than a few months.

If YouTube is still offline, check if the service is not temporarily down and definitely report the problem to Google. You can do that in the app, under Account > Help & Feedback.

4. How to watch videos offline on YouTube?

With YouTube’s premium subscription, you can download and watch offline videos on Android, iOS, and desktop. This is great if you want something to watch while without Wi-Fi and save some mobile data. You should see the download icon under every video. Also, you get to choose the video quality and, by choosing a lower resolution, reduce the video size. Just make sure to change Account > Settings > Background & downloads and change Download quality to Ask each time or any other resolution up to 1080p.

Once you download the video, you can find it in the Downloads in Library. From there, you can access and delete videos you haven’t watched.

With that said, we can conclude this article. We thank you for reading and encourage you to share your questions or suggestions with us and other readers. You can do that in the comments section below.

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in May 2022. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.