If you often go to youtube, you’ve probably experienced some minor issues. One of them is the Youtube thumbnails not showing. In this case, it might bother you indeed. That’s because you can only see the title without any expectations for the video would be. As you know, youtube thumbnails can give a gist about the whole video. Also, it can persuade you to watch the video that you might interest in right after you look at it. So, if the youtube thumbnails not showing, it can be a bummer.
How Is It Possible For Youtube Thumbnails Not Showing?
Before we proceed to the troubleshooting procedures, it’s necessary to know the cause of the problem. That said, if youtube thumbnails not showing, all you can see is a dull grey square. In this case, the problem can be caused by some factors such as cache and cookies, bug, add-on, extension, etc. Most of them caused by the setting on your device and on Youtube itself. Furthermore, it can be from your software and app version, your browser, or even your connection. So, there will be some methods to fix this issue depends on the cause.
How To Deal With Youtube Thumbnails Not Showing Problem
As it said, there are some ways you can follow to fix the thumbnails problem. It’ll start with the common solution and you can just move to another one if it still didn’t work. Also, these steps are pretty common so it’s quite easy for you to follow:
1. Check Your Internet Speed
The most common thing that causes the youtube thumbnail fails to load is the connection. To deal with this poor connection performance, you can check things below:
Connect your devices to the router. In this case, you can use an ethernet cable. Open an internet browser and type speedtest.net, then “enter”. After the page appears, click on “Go”. If it appears that your connection is too slow or too unstable, then you can connect your device with a faster network.
2. Install VPN
This can happen because of a DNS server error or your country does not have access rights to YouTube videos. You can install a free VPN or premium version, just download it at the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, if you use a VPN that can fix Youtube thumbnails not showing, but when you don’t use VPN then youtube thumbnails will disappear again.
3. Clear Your Internet Browser Cache
The next common cause for youtube thumbnails not showing is cache and cookies in your browser. In this case, you need to clear them. Here are the steps you need to do:
If you use Chrome as your browser, you go to “Settings” (the three dots in the right corner of your screen). Head the cursor to “More tools” then click on “Clear browsing data”. Thus, the “Clear browsing data” window will appear and tap on “clear data” (the blue square button). Then, the cache of your Chrome is cleared now.
4. Clear Youtube App Watch History
Besides the cache on your browser, the cache in your youtube app also needs to be cleared. So it can give your device more space to function. Here’s how you do it:
Open your youtube app on your device. Then, head to your account icon in the right corner of the screen and choose “Settings”. Thus, click on “History & Privacy”. When the pop-up appears, tap on “Clear watch history”. Close your Youtube app, and re-open it. See if it works.
5. Force Stop Your Youtube App
If those methods still didn’t work, you can now try to force stop the youtube app from your device. The aim is to restart the app so it refreshed. To force stop the app, here are the steps:
Head to “Settings” on your phone or device. Next, find the “Application Manager” then tap on it. After that, scroll the list down until you find “Youtube” then tap. Now, choose “Force Stop”. Thus, you can close all of the application that is running. Next, open Youtube and see if the thumbnails are showing.
6. Check For Incompatible Extension
In some cases, there is an incompatible extension that causes youtube thumbnails not showing. Moreover, you can use incognito mode instead of your regular mode on your browser. Here’s what you need to do:
Switch the regular mode to incognito by clicking on “Setting” on your browser. Next, choose “New incognito window”. Now, you need to get rid of the incompatible extension. If there’s an incompatible extension, it’ll appear on the window. To remove them, you can right-click the extension and click on “Remove from Chrome”. After that, open youtube from that incognito window. See if the thumbnails are appearing.
7. For the Last Solution, Restart Your Device
The last solution is probably the easiest one to do, which is to restart your device. All you need to do is press and hold the power button. After it turned off, you can turn it on again by doing the same way. Restarting your phone can be an effective way to tackle any minor problems. Now you know what to do if you experience like youtube thumbnails not showing. To put this simply, it’s important to clear cache regularly to get rid of the minor app or device problems. So, you don’t need to freak out if you see dull grey squares on your youtube page.
