iPad Won’t Play Videos – You Can Fix That

When your iPad won’t play videos, it can be frustrating. You probably sat down after a long day’s work, and you just want to unwind with your favorite series, and nothing plays. You can fix this problem and never miss out on videos again.

Here are some troubleshooting fixes that you can use to get the iPad back up and running, so you can watch your favorite streaming shows or YouTube videos.

What to do when your iPad won’t play videos

Close apps and restart the iPad

If you’re connected to the internet, you can restart your iPad real quick by closing all offending apps from the multitask display, and swipe up on each app. To open multitask display, you can either double-tap the Home button or swipe up from the bottom of the iPad screen and hold your finger in the middle until the feature appears.

Once you do this, reboot your iPad. Hold down Home and the Sleep/Wake buttons for a few seconds till the Apple logo displays, and then try to reload the video. If it still doesn’t play, use the next step.

Update apps and ios to the latest versions

Some apps may be outdated thus your iPad won’t play videos, or they could be in conflict for the same reason. To download the latest ios version, do this:

• Open Settings
• Tap General>System Update

For the apps, do this:

• Open App Store and select Updates at the bottom
• Check if the apps like YouTube or streaming app need updating
• An Update button on the right pane next to the app will be available if it needs updating
• Tap Update All to update all the apps to the latest version

Check for Apple service interruptions

You could be trying to watch using iTunes, so check if all the services are running at peak level by going to Apple’s system status update page. For non-Apple apps, check developer’s websites to ensure they’re running as they should. This will vary from one app to another, but popular apps like Netflix or YouTube are easy to find status updates for from their official sites or social media pages.

Download the video instead of streaming

Most iTunes videos can be downloaded or played directly from the iPad instead of streaming. You can save a video to watch if not connected to WiFi or having connection issues. Once the video is open, check for the download icon (cloud with a down arrow), and tap it to download the video and watch offline.

Factory reset

You may have to reset your iPad if all else fails, and put it back to default factory settings. This erases everything on the device. You can also download the apps you want all over again. If this is what you want to do, back up whatever you want to keep and then reset the iPad.