Is the YouTube watch history not working on your account?
Watch history is a feature on YouTube that lets you backtrack the videos you previously watched. Besides, this can also help parents who want to monitor their kids’ activity on YouTube.
YouTube also uses your watch history to recommend videos that suit your taste so that you’re constantly updated with the latest trends on your favorite topic or subject.
However, you might find that your feed gets messed up with unrelated content if YouTube watch history is not working.
Most of the time, this error is caused by YouTube’s servers, but problems that may have occurred on your end should also be considered.
To help you address the issue, we’ve decided to make a simple guide in fixing the YouTube watch history that is not working.
Let’s begin!
1. Check YouTube’s Servers.
As mentioned above, the leading cause of this issue is YouTube’s servers. If YouTube watch history is not working, try to check their servers using Downdetector. Their team may be doing maintenance on the servers, or an unexpected error happened.
If YouTube’s servers are indeed down, the best thing to do for now is to wait. However, you can still try the suggested methods below and see if anything would work on your end.
To get the latest updates about YouTube and its features, visit their official Twitter page.
2. Turn Off VPN.
If you experience issues on YouTube or other sites, try to turn off your VPN if you have one running.
While VPNs work great for securing our local connection, they can also cause instability and delays to our network. To keep our network and data secured, VPNs change our IP address randomly and filter the data going out of our device, making it difficult for our devices to communicate with the websites we visit.
To fix this, disable your VPN while using YouTube and see if the problem goes away.
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4. Turn Off Pause Watch History.
There are times when users play around with their settings and enable ‘Pause Watch History’ unknowingly. This option stops YouTube from tracking your watch history and could mess up your recommendations page.
To fix this, simply turn off the feature on the YouTube app.
On the YouTube app, you can turn off ‘Pause Watch History’ by doing the following:
- First, open the YouTube app on your device and access its Settings page.
- After that, go to the Privacy tab.
- Lastly, tap the toggle switch to disable ‘Pause Watch History’ on the YouTube app.
For browsers, see the steps below to guide you on the process.
- First, open YouTube on your browser and click on your Profile located at the top right corner of the window.
- Now, click on ‘Your Data in YouTube’.
- Scroll down to YouTube Watch History and open it.
- Finally, click on the toggle switch to enable YouTube Watch History.
Once done, go back to YouTube and check if your watch history is now working.
5. Re-Login to YouTube.
Your account may have encountered an unexpected error and causes some features on YouTube to malfunction. You can try signing out of your account and log back in to refresh your data.
On Android, follow the steps below to sign out of your YouTube account.
- First, go to the YouTube app on your device and open the Accounts tab.
- After that, tap on Switch Account and open Manage Accounts.
- Now, select the YouTube account that you want to sign out of.
- Finally, tap on Remove Account.
For iOS users, see the steps below to sign out of your account.
- On your device, tap on the YouTube app to launch it.
- Now, tap on your Profile icon from the top right corner of your screen.
- Finally, tap on Switch Account and tap Use YouTube Signed Out.
If you are using a browser, check out the guide below to sign out of your YouTube account.
- First, access YouTube using your browser.
- Now, click on your Profile icon beside the Notifications button.
- Lastly, click on Sign Out.
After signing out of your account, wait for 2-3 minutes before logging back in to refresh your account data.
6. Check for Updates.
If YouTube watch history is not working on the app, you can try checking for updates. YouTube releases frequent updates on their application to ensure that it is running correctly.
However, if you don’t update your app from time to time, you can expect errors to occur during use.
On Android, follow the guide below to update YouTube.
- First, launch Google Play Store on your device and tap on the Menu button.
- Now, tap on My Apps & Games from the side drawer to check for possible updates.
- Lastly, tap the Update button beside YouTube if there’s an available update.
For iOS users, you can update YouTube by doing the following:
- On your home screen, open the App Store.
- After that, tap on your Profile.
- Scroll down and find YouTube from the list. If available, tap on Update to install the latest version of the app.
Once done, go back to YouTube and check if the watch history is now working.
7. Clear Your Browsing Data.
Browsers use temporary data called caches and cookies to enhance their performance when loading up websites. However, caches and cookies can get corrupted anytime and cause issues on your browser and the websites you visit.
To fix this, simply clear your browsing data to get rid of corrupted files and cookies.
- First, open your default browser and navigate to its Settings page.
- After that, scroll down to Privacy and Security and click on Clear Browsing Data.
- Now, click on Time Range and change it to All Time.
- Finally, click on the checkbox next to ‘Cached Images and Files’ and ‘Cookies and Other Site Data’ before clicking the Clear Data button.
After clearing your browsing data, re-access your YouTube account and check if the watch history is now working.
8. Disable Your Browser Extensions.
If you have browser extensions installed, consider turning them off or removing them from your system if you encounter problems on websites you visit. Some extensions only work for a specific website and could interfere with how other sites function.
To manage your browser extensions, check out the guide below.
- First, open your default browser and click on the Options button.
- Now, click on Settings and access the Extensions tab.
- Finally, turn off or remove your browser extensions.
Once done, go back to YouTube and check if the watch history is now working.
9. Check and Reset Your Internet.
Since YouTube is an online website, a stable network connection is needed for it to function correctly. If YouTube watch history is not working, it can indicate that your network is running slow.
To verify this, try to run a speed test using Fast.com to measure your network’s upload and download speed.
If the result shows that your connection is slow, try to restart your router to refresh the connection with your service provider’s servers.
Once done, re-run the test to check if the restart worked. If you continue to experience a slow or unstable network connection, contact your ISP and let them know about the issue.
10. Reinstall the YouTube App.
If the update could not fix the issue on the YouTube app, you could try reinstalling it for your last option. Some of its installation files may have gotten corrupted beyond repair, and installing a fresh copy is the only viable solution.
If you are using an Android device, check out the guide below to reinstall YouTube.
- First, go to your home screen and locate the YouTube app from the list.
- Now, tap and hold its app icon until you see the Options screen.
- Finally, tap on Uninstall to delete the YouTube app.
For iOS users, follow the steps below to reinstall the YouTube app.
- On your device, find the YouTube app from your home screen.
- Now, tap on its app icon until the selection screen shows up.
- Lastly, tap on Remove App to delete YouTube.
Once done, go to the App Store or Play Store and reinstall the YouTube app.
This brings us to the end of our guide in fixing the YouTube watch history if it is not working on your device. If you have other questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comment section below. We’d be happy to help you out whenever we can.
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
