WHY IS YOUTUBE NOT WORKING ON MY SMART TV? YOUTUBE DOES NOT START, GIVES AN ERROR, THE APPLICATION DISAPPEARED ON THE TV

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Almost all owners of Smart TV TVs face a problem when, without exaggeration, the most popular and demanded YouTube application stops working. This happens very often, on different TVs and models. On old and new TVs from LG, Samsung, Sony, Philips, Kivi, Ergo, etc. The YouTube application simply disappears from the Smart TV menu (usually after updating the TV's firmware), does not open, or opens but does not load a video, appears black screen, etc. It is not uncommon for an error to occur related to the network, or the application simply freezes with the inscription "YouTube" at the beginning of the download. Depending on the manufacturer of the TV, the Smart TV platform and the year of the TV, the problems and errors themselves with the launch of this popular application of course may differ.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t use my Philips TV except watching videos on YouTube. And if YouTube had stopped working, then this TV would not make any sense at all. I think this is the situation for many. In any case, many people buy Smart TV in order to watch YouTube, and if it stops working, then you definitely need to do something about it. In this article, I will collect the most effective and working solutions for different TVs (Smart TV platforms), with which you can restore the YouTube app to work. Regardless of which manufacturer your TV is (Sony, Samsung, LG, Philips, or less popular manufacturers whose TVs run on Androoid), the old model or the new one, the YouTube app is gone, or it just won't start. I will separate the instructions separately for each TV manufacturer so that it is easier for you to find the solution you need and put it into practice.

A few words about why these problems arise at all and how everything works there. To begin with, back in 2017, Google (which owns YouTube) removed the YouTube application (it just stopped working) from old TVs that were released in 2012 or earlier (I met information that the application disappeared on some TVs before 2014 Year of release). This means that the official application on these TVs simply cannot work, it is not supported. If you do not go into details, then this can be explained by the fact that TVs are outdated, and the application is developing. And they are simply incompatible. Moving to HTML5, 4k and all that.

How to get YouTube back on old TVs (on which the official app is not supported):

Google recommends buying Smart set-top boxes. Or buy new TVs. If you do not plan to change your TV in the near future, then probably buying a Smart set-top box is the best solution in this situation.
On old TVs, you can try watching YouTube through a browser. But as a rule, even in the browser, it does not work.
Most likely, it will not work on all TVs, but you can try to start broadcasting videos from the YouTube application on mobile devices. How to do this, I showed in the second part of the article how to watch YouTube on TV.
Use Fork Player on Smart TV. There are many instructions on how to install and configure it on the net.

If your Smart TV TV is 2013 or newer, then YouTube should work on it. But here, too, there are many different problems. The application itself often freezes, stops opening, or disappears altogether after updating the TV software. Even on TVs with a Smart Android TV system (Sony, Philips), which, like YouTube, belongs to Google, there are various problems. On TVs LG (webOS) and Samsung (Tizen OS) these problems are no less. I'm not talking about TVs of lesser-known manufacturers such as Ergo, Kivi, Skyworth, Akai, TCL, Xiaomi, Hisense, Mystery, Gazer, Yasin, which, as far as I know, do not buy a license for Android TV from Google, but create their own Smart TV systems based on Android AOSP (thus they save and reduce the cost of TVs, as this is the free version). And Google blocks the use of its services (including YouTube) on TVs that run on the free version of Android.

No matter what kind of TV you have or what the specific issue with the YouTube app is, I highly recommend doing the following first:

Turn off the power of the TV completely for 10-20 minutes. It is very important! I will even take a photo to draw attention to this decision.
From my own experience, I can say that such a procedure allows you to get rid of a variety of problems and errors on TVs with Smart TVs. Including from problems with launching and watching videos in the YouTube application. Suitable for absolutely all TVs.
You need to make sure that the TV is connected to the Internet and the Internet is working. Since the very fact of connecting a cable or connecting to a Wi-Fi network does not mean that there is a possibility of accessing the Internet. It is best to check through the browser on the TV (try to open a website), or in another application. If the internet is working, then YouTube stopped working on the TV for another reason. And if the problem is in the Internet connection, then when the application starts, the message "No network connection", "Network not connected", etc. usually appears.
I have already shown you how to solve Internet connection problems on LG TVs, and what to do if the Internet does not work on Samsung Smart TVs. Well, a universal instruction: how to connect a TV to the Internet.
Updating the TV's firmware. It won't get any worse. Almost every Smart TV can download the firmware via the Internet and install it. You can start the software update (check for a new version) in the TV settings. Usually under "System", "Support", "About TV". You can download the firmware to a USB flash drive and start the update on the TV already from the USB flash drive. But in this case, this method is hardly relevant, since YouTube does not work on our TV, and if it does not work, then there must be an Internet connection (see the second solution above). Otherwise, the application does not work due to the TV is not connected to the Internet.

If turning off the power and updating the firmware did not help, and the Internet on the TV is working, then you need to apply other solutions. Further in the article, you will find detailed information for individual TV manufacturers.

If YouTube does not work on LG Smart TV

Many people complain that network error appears when launching YouTube on LG Smart TV.

We already discussed this at the beginning of the article. This is a DNS problem, or the TV is not connected to the Internet at all. How to fix this (manually register DNS), I showed in the article Problems with Wi-Fi on LG Smart TV: does not see the Wi-Fi network, does not connect, the Internet does not work, network error 106, 105.

By default, LG TVs have automatic software updates enabled. It happens that after the update, YouTube disappears altogether. In this case, you need to install it from the LG Store. Open Smart TV and go to the LG Store.
The YouTube app should be on the homepage. If not, then look at the "PREMIUM" tab, or try to find it through the search.
Install the application on the TV by clicking on the "Install" button.
After installation, the application will appear in the Smart TV menu.
We launch it and watch the video!

YouTube stopped working on LG TV: does not open, freezes, does not load video

Turn off the power of the TV for 15 minutes (from the socket).
Remove the YouTube app. Among the applications in the Smart TV menu we find YouTube, press the top button on the remote control twice and Ok. In some versions of webOS, you need to press the Ok button and hold. We confirm the deletion. For example:
Then again, turn off the power of the TV for 10 minutes, turn it on and install the YouTube application from the LG Store (instructions above).
If all else fails, we reset the TV settings. In the settings you need to go to the "General" section. See screenshot:
After factory reset install the YouTube app from the LG Store... I showed how to do this above in this instruction. Most likely, you will have to look for it in the app store on the "PREMIUM" tab.

Depending on the year of your TV and the version of webOS installed, the appearance of applications and menus may be slightly different, but not critical. If you have the opportunity, you can attach new, relevant photos in the comments. Also, do not forget to write if you managed to get YouTube back and which solution helped.

On older Samsung TVs (C, D and E series, pre-2012) YouTube no longer works. This information is available on the Samsung website. This is what I wrote about at the beginning of the article.

Problems with YouTube also occur on newer Samsung TVs. For example, an application opens, but it is empty. The video does not load and no information is displayed. Constant loading in progress.

In this situation, the same usually helps. power off the TV completely... How long should you turn off? Recommended for 15 minutes. But there are reviews that even turning off the power for 30 seconds solves this problem.

Also, as another solution, I recommend registering DNS servers from Google in the Internet connection properties on the TV. In the article, Samsung TV does not see Wi-Fi, does not connect to the Internet. Connection error in the Smart TV menu and the Internet does not work, I showed in detail how to do this.

As a last resort, you can try to reset the TV settings (all settings, installed applications, channels will be deleted!). This can be done in the settings, in the "General" section.

To confirm the reset, you will most likely need to enter the password 0000.

You can also try uninstalling the YouTube app and installing it from the app store on your Samsung Smart TV. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to test this on a real TV. You can check this method and tell about it in the comments. If he is a worker, I will add him to the article.

There is no information about new, actual problems with YouTube on Sony Bravia TVs. These TVs run on the Android TV operating system from Google, where they most likely tried and optimized their application well on their own operating system. But there were some problems on Sony TVs with Smart TVs, which were usually solved by clearing cookies, or working with the YouTube application without logging into your account. If YouTube freezes or does not open on your Sony Bravia TV, try the following:

Turn off the power of the TV completely for 15 minutes. Then turn it on and try to open YouTube.
Clear cookies. Open your browser, then press the "Options" button on the remote control and go to "Browser Settings".
We select "Delete all cookies" and confirm our action.
We update the Internet content. To do this, go to "Settings" - "Network". Next, select "Update Internet Content".
We return to the "Applications" tab and try to open YouTube.
Updating the TV software. You can update directly in the settings, in the "Product support" - "Software update."
Hard reset your Sony Bravia TV. You can do a reset in "System settings" - "General settings" - "Factory settings".

If you could not solve the problem, YouTube does not work on your Sony TV, then describe the problem in detail in the comments. Let's see what we can do.

Philips TVs, like Sony, run on Android TV. And if you do not take into account the fact that in general the Android TV system itself does not always work stably and quickly, then there are no special problems with YouTube on these TVs. I also have a Philips Smart TV somewhere in 2015, and there are no serious problems with it. The YouTube app has recently been automatically updated and it works fine. Sometimes it freezes or does not open. But this is always solved by turning off the power of the TV for a few minutes. Then the Android is loaded again and everything works fine.

On older Philips TVs (as well as on TVs from other manufacturers), when trying to launch YouTube, users receive a message that YouTube will no longer work on this TV. There is also some problem with different applications on TVs in 2014-2015. If you have a TV of these years, then you need to go to Google Play, go to "My Apps", find YouTube there and delete it. Then install the new version of the application from the same Google Play (use search to find the application).

In any case, if your YouTube disappeared on my Philips Smart TV (there is no this application at all), then you can always try to install it from Google Play. Open the Smart TV menu, launch Google Play, click on the search button and enter "YouTube".
The application "YouTube for Android TV" should appear in the search results. If the app is not installed on your TV, there will be an "Install" button. If set, then "Open". You can also uninstall the YouTube app there.
But as it turned out, there is no way to completely remove it on my Philips TV (but we don't need it), you can only delete all updates (you can try if you have problems starting this application). This is a system application.
If the YouTube application itself simply does not open, does not work after launch, freezes, does not play video, then you can try to clear the data and delete the cache of this application. To do this, we need to go to "Preferences" - "Application Management".
Next, on the "System Applications" tab, find YouTube and open it. Then, in turn, select "Delete data" and "Clear cache". We confirm our actions every time.
After that, it is advisable to turn off the power of the TV for a few minutes. If YouTube still does not work, then try "Uninstall updates" and "Delete default settings" in the same settings.
Update your TV's firmware. Here's how to update firmware on Philips TVs on Android TV.
Reset your TV to factory settings. You can make it in the "Settings" - "General settings" - "Factory settings" section.

I would be grateful if, in the comments to this article, you describe your problem that you had with watching YouTube on TV, and how you managed to get rid of it. If the problem cannot be solved, then write the TV model and describe in detail all the nuances, I will try to suggest something. If your TV is not very old, then everything should work.

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