Top 7 Ways to Fix YouTube Watch History Not Working

YouTube keeps track of every video you watch when you are signed in. This not only helps YouTube offer better recommendations but also gives you the option to revisit your previously viewed videos easily. However, you can’t do that if your YouTube watch history stops working.

While the reason behind this could be anything from misconfigured watch history settings or a corrupted cache, fixing the problem isn’t too difficult. Below, we share some useful tips that should get YouTube to display your watch history as before.

1. Turn on Watch History

A common reason YouTube might not save or update your watch history is if you have paused it““. Here’s how to enable it.

Desktop

Step 1: Open your preferred browser, navigate to the YouTube website, and sign in to your account.

Step 2: Use the left pane to switch to the History tab.

Step 3: On your right, click the ‘Turn on watch history’ button. If you see the ‘Pause watch history’ option, it means the watch history is already enabled.

Step 4: Select Turn on to confirm.

Mobile

Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your Android or iPhone. Switch to the Library tab and tap on History.

Step 2: If the watch history is paused, you should see the Turn on button at the top. Tap on it and then select Turn on again to confirm.

2. Restart the YouTube App or Refresh the Webpage

Sometimes, temporary glitches with the YouTube app can prevent it from updating or showing your watch history. You can try closing and reopening the app to see if that helps.

To close YouTube on Android, long-press on its app icon and tap the info icon from the resulting menu. Then, tap the Force stop option at the bottom.

On the iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or press the Home Screen button twice) to bring up the app switcher. Then, swipe upwards on the YouTube card to close the app.

Those using YouTube in a web browser can reload the webpage by clicking the refresh icon and see if that helps.

3. Sign Out and Sign Back In

You can sign out of YouTube and then sign back in. This should help re-establish YouTube’s connection with its servers and resolve any issues.

If you use YouTube on a desktop, click the profile icon at the top-right corner and select Sign out.

The process of signing out of the YouTube app varies for Android and iPhone. Here are the steps you can follow.

Android

Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your Android, tap the profile icon at the top-right corner, and tap on your username.

Step 2: Select the Manage accounts option.

Step 3: Select your account from the list and click the Remove account option.

Step 4: Select Remove account again to confirm.

Step 5: Restart the YouTube app, tap the profile icon and select Add account. Then, follow the on-screen prompts to sign in with your account.

iPhone

Step 1: Open the YouTube app and tap the profile icon in the top right corner.

Step 2: Tap on your account name and select the ‘Use YouTube signed out’ option.

Step 3: Tap the profile icon again, select the Sign in option, and then add your account.

4. Disable Ad-Blocker Extensions (Desktop)

If you have an ad-blocker extension installed on your browser, it might interfere with YouTube’s ability to save your watch history. To check for this possibility, you can temporarily disable any ad-blocker extensions on your browser.

In Google Chrome, type chrome://extensions in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Then, turn off the toggle next to the ad-blocker extension.

For those using Microsoft Edge, type edge://extensions in the URL bar and hit Enter. Turn off the ad-blocker extension using the toggle next to it.

Restart your browser after this and check if the issue is still there.

5. Clear YouTube App Cache (Android)

Corrupted or inaccessible cache data can also prevent the YouTube app from running smoothly on your Android device, resulting in such issues. You can purge the existing YouTube app cache to see if that solves the problem.

Step 1: Long-press on the YouTube app icon and tap the info icon from the menu that appears.

Step 2: Go to Storage and tap the Clear cache option.

6. Clear Cache and Cookies for YouTube (Desktop)

YouTube watch history may stop working in your browser if the cache and cookies associated with the site are old or corrupted. You can clear the cache and cookies for YouTube to fix the issue.

If you use Chrome, visit the YouTube website, click the padlock icon in the address bar, and select Site settings.

Click the Clear data button under the Usage section.

Similarly, you can clear YouTube’s cache and cookies in Edge, Safari, or any other browser you use.

7. Update the App (Mobile)

If nothing works, the YouTube app on your phone is likely outdated or buggy. To fix it, update the YouTube app to its latest version by visiting the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone).

YouTube for Android

YouTube for iPhone

Once updated, the YouTube app should display your watch history as before.

Reclaim Your Watch History

It can be frustrating when you want to rewatch an important tutorial or recipe video and it’s missing from your watch history. Hopefully, one or more of the above tips have helped you solve the problem and rework YouTube watch history.