YouTube Outage: Some Users Can Now Access App After 2-Hour Downtime

YouTube users around the globe faced service disruptions starting around 7:45 PM ET (4:45 PM PT), with reports quickly escalating by 8 PM ET (5 PM PT). More users said that they could now gradually use the app after a brief downtime.

Nearly 300,000 outage reports have been logged on DownDetector, highlighting the scale of the interruption affecting both YouTube and, to a lesser extent, YouTube TV.

YouTube Outage Globally

According to 9to5Mac, the outage primarily affected key platform functions, including the subscription feed, Shorts, and the homepage, across both mobile and web apps. While YouTube TV and YouTube Music remained mostly functional, most users reported that core YouTube services were inaccessible.

Videos accessed via direct links or embedded players continued to play for many, indicating a partial disruption rather than a full platform shutdown.

How Did YouTube Users React?

As expected, the outage sparked widespread discussion across Twitter, Reddit, and other social channels. Users shared frustrations and workarounds, making the disruption one of the most talked-about tech issues of the day.

Tech teams, including 9to5 staff, independently verified the outage through personal testing, confirming the widespread impact.

On Reddit, some users complained that their video was playing, but the sidebar remained blank. Others noticed that the home page was inaccesible but he could still watch some clips.

Here's what others said:

"In Central USA- can access videos via my subscriptions list ECT but not home page, totally gonna demand a discount on my premium for this month."

"I was watching a video linked from here on Reddit and it opened fine on the iPhone app. Can't navigate around short of watching videos in my history, playlists, or links from somewhere."

"It just signed me out of my tv app lmao Of course this shit always happens when I'm stoned."

Google Confirms Investigation

Google officially acknowledged the disruption via its support forums, stating that teams are actively investigating the cause and working to restore full service. While partial recovery has been observed, some users continue to experience instability in accessing certain features.

How Affected Users Can Cope

For those impacted, temporary solutions include accessing content through direct video links or periodically refreshing the app. Google advises users to monitor official channels for updates as engineers work to resolve the issues.