Slooooooooooooooooow iPad YouTube buffering

The quality is automatically reduced based on your connection if you are using the YouTube app.

You can optionally try going to the actual YouTube website in Safari, it might help solve your problem.

To be honest the thing that helped the most for me with YouTube was getting a fast 802.11n wireless connection. I still get buffering issues on occasion, but I would say it's more related to YouTube being crappy than anything else.

ConnorJack said:

This drives me crazy. I love my iPad and I think it's great to catch up on my various RSS subscriptions and Twitter, but what I love is the ability to catch up on YouTube subscriptions.

But the buffering of these videos is ungodly slow. Is there anything I can do to try and speed it up? Can I reduce the quality of videos to make them load faster?

Thanks.

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They have a search function here in this forum. It works. Give it a try.

ConnorJack said:

Yeah, I know. Most of the threads i've seen about this is just people agreeing that the problem exists or saying, use the website.

So as much as it's great to know a function I already knew existed, exists, that doesn't quite solve my problem.

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Well if you had used the search feature, you would have seen a thread denoting the same topic you brought up.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/975419/

I think the general consensus is that it's a router handling issue.

Ah, now I understand why some people say YouTube is slow. I have no problems at all on the iPad. So this recurring complaint was a real head scratcher to me. But then I am using it mostly at home and with an Airport Extreme N router. So now it all makes sense.

Thanks Tango!

There's clearly issues with certain routers and YouTube being streaming video highlights these problems. I would urge those with problems to use the speed test app as you Amy get a shock. My results are less than half what i should get and do get on my iMac.

It's not just iPad that has issues. My 2nd gen ipod touch is exactly the same. Both devices operate fine on other wireless networks but not on my home network using a O2 Thomson wireless box ii. Hence I can't watch half of youtube without buffering issues. I've just ordered an expensive netgear dual band wireless n router so that should hopefully fix things.

Again, iMac and MacBook are fine. iPad and iPod touch struggle and return half or less of my actual downstream broadband bandwitb.

I think you just have a terrible internet connection lol

have you tried it on a different WiFi?

TheBritishBloke said:

I think you just have a terrible internet connection lol

have you tried it on a different WiFi?

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You talking to me or the OP?

There are clearly issues given the amount of people posting on the subject. My tests point to my router being crap. But I'm still annoyed I have to invest money into a new router simply to get my iPad and iPod touch to get the speeds they should be getting (and do get on other networks).

ConnorJack said:

My internet connection is great in all other aspects including YouTube off-iPad. I don't understand how I can stream higher-quality BBC iPlayer content on iPad but not even rubbish quality YT videos.

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That's very strange.. Mine can sometimes be the same.. Is it temperamental or does it always do it?

And I was talking to OP.

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I've mentioned this before, but I notice no real difference between my Sony Vaio laptop and my iPad when it comes to buffering of YouTube videos - they both run off the same router and both tend to hang at the same spots (consistently at the end of the first sixth of the total time) when buffering. I think that I notice it more only because on my craptop I tend to surf in another tab whilst waiting for the YouTube server to continue sending data, whilst with the iPad I have to sit and watch the kettle come to a boil.