You may be trying to go back to a video you've watched previously, only to discover that the YouTube watch history not updating issue has scuppered that dream. As such, you are left with the unenviable choice of trying to find the video manually. Which can be difficult, especially if it was one you stumbled across at random, to begin with.
If you do find yourself in this situation, there are a few potential ways to get the history to start updating once again. And in this article, we'll explain exactly what those options are.
How To Fix YouTube Watch History Error
We'll state at the outset that this seems to be something of a recurring issue. And unfortunately, videos that you watched while this was happening will almost certainly not reappear in your watch history. As Dr McCoy used to say, "I'm a Doctor, not a medical practitioner". Or something.
If you want to get your watch history working again, here's what we recommend:
Make Sure Watch History Is Enabled
- On the YouTube website, go to the History option on the left-hand side.
- You will see one of two options: Pause Watch History, or Turn On Watch History. If you see the Turn On Watch History option, it means you have disabled watch history. Turning it back on should resolve your issue.
Alternatively, if you are using the YouTube app:
- Open the YouTube app Settings page and select History.
- Got to Privacy.
- Look for the Pause History option. If this is active, turn it off.
Restart The App
If you are experiencing this issue, then it's worth trying to close the app (or website) and relaunch it. Sometimes, a one-off glitch may be the culprit, and simply reconnecting to YouTube might be enough to resolve the error.
click to enlargeCheck For Updates
This is a common fix for a lot of issues with a lot of apps. It's important to make sure that you check for any pending updates for both your operating system, and the YouTube app itself. If there are any pending updates, download and install these.
Running an outdated software version can sometimes lead to compatibility issues. So bringing everything up to date can reconcile this.
Clear Cache And Data
Sometimes an issue with a cached file can be behind an error. It's worth clearing your cache and data to see if this makes a difference.
- On PC, open your preferred web browser and go to Settings.
- Look for the option to Clear History. Sometimes this will be in a sub-menu such as More Tools.
- Choose the time range you want to delete (for example, one day, two days, or all-time) and then select all of browsing history, cookies, cached imaged images and files.
- Click Clear Data.
If you are using the YouTube app:
- Open Chrome, and go to your Settings menu by tapping the three dots in the top-right corner.
- Select History > Clear browsing data.
- Select everything you want to delete - history, cookies, site data, etc.
- Tap Clear Data or Clear Browsing Data, depending on the device you are using.
If none of our recommendations works, then contact the YouTube Support team and raise a ticket with them for further support.
What Causes The Youtube Watch History Not Updating Issue?
As you will infer from the range of potential solutions, there isn't necessarily one specific cause for this error. And it can be down to a fairly wide range of factors.
And it can even be down to something completely beyond your control. In a support post from May 2022, the YouTube team stated that the watch history not updating error was fixed at their end. This would mean that sometimes, there is very little you can actually do to remedy it yourself.
- Read More: TikTok Watch History: How To Find TikTok Videos You've Already Watched On Android And iPhone
What Is The Watch History Not Updating Error?
There are a few different ways in which this error may be affecting you:
- Your watch history may not be updating with new videos you've recently watched
- Your watch history may show as empty, with the message "This list has no videos"
- You may no longer see the video progress bar (indicating that you've watched a video) in thumbnails of videos you've recently watched
- You may be re-recommended a previously watched video
If you are being affected by any of these, then try the solutions we recommended above. Or hope that YouTube can quickly identify and fix whatever underlying issue is causing it.
Now that you have fixed the issue (hopefully), learn how to stop YouTube from pausing automatically when you are playing it in the background.