5 Ways to Fix YouTube Search Not Working

Quick Tips

• Ensure your phone or computer is set to the correct date and time and the internet is working.
• Update the YouTube app on your phone. If issues persist, try signing out of your account and signing back in.
• If YouTube search isn’t working in your browser, clear your browser cache or try using a different browser.

Try Basic Fixes

• Update or Reinstall the YouTube app: Apps like YouTube regularly receive updates that include bug fixes and performance improvements. If the issue is occurring due to a bug, updating the YouTube app from the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone) should help. Alternatively, you can also uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app on your phone.
• Check if YouTube is down: It’s not uncommon for services like YouTube to experience server outages from time to time. To overrule this possibility, you can visit a website like Downdetector, which tracks outages for several services, including YouTube.

Fix 1: Correct Date and Time on Your Phone

The YouTube app may have trouble communicating with its servers if your Android or iPhone is set to an incorrect date or time. To fix this, you need to configure your phone to use the network-provided date and time.

Android

Step 1: Open the Settings app and navigate to General management.

Step 2: Tap on Date and time and enable the toggle for Automatic date and time.

iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on General.

Step 2: Tap on Date & Time and toggle on the switch next to Set Automatically.

Fix 2: Clear App Cache (Android)

YouTube, like any other streaming service, collects cache data on your phone to reduce loading times and improve app performance. The problem occurs when this data gets corrupted and conflicts with the app. You can try clearing the existing cache data for the YouTube app and see if that solves the issue.

Step 1: Long-press on the YouTube app icon and tap the info icon from the menu that appears.

Step 2: Go to Storage and tap the Clear cache option.

Fix 3: Allow Unrestricted Data Usage to the YouTube App(Android)

Have you enabled the data saver mode on your Android? If so, YouTube might have trouble using the internet and fetching search results. To avoid this, you need to allow unrestricted data usage to the YouTube app.

Step 1: Long press the YouTube app icon and tap the info icon from the menu that appears.

Step 2: Tap on Mobile data and enable the toggles for Allow background data usage and Allow data usage while Data saver is on.

Fix 4: Sign Out and Sign Back In

Temporary issues with your Google account can also cause the YouTube search function to stop working. You can try signing out of the YouTube app and then signing back in to see if that helps. Here’s how you can go about it.

Android

Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your Android, tap the profile icon in the top-right corner, and tap on your username.

Step 2: Select the Manage accounts option.

Step 3: Select your account from the list and click the Remove account option.

Step 4: Restart the YouTube app, tap the profile icon, and select Add account. Then, follow the on-screen prompts to sign in with your account.

iPhone

Step 1: Open the YouTube app and tap the profile icon in the top right corner.

Step 2: Tap on your account name and select the Use YouTube signed out option.

Step 3: Tap the profile icon again, select the Sign in option, and then add your account.

Fix 5: Clear Browser Cache

Outdated or inaccessible browser caches can also result in such issues. If that’s the case, you will need to clear the existing browser cache to fix the issue.

If you are using Chrome or Edge, press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on your keyboard to open the “Clear browsing data” panel. Select All time in the Time Range option. Mark the box that reads Cached images and files and hit the Clear data button.

If clearing the cache does not resolve the problem, you can try using YouTube in another browser. If YouTube search works in another browser, you can try resetting the browser you were using earlier to fix the problem.