Top 8 Ways to Fix Snapchat Not Playing Videos on Android and iPhone

Snapchat is fun social network for sharing moments, stories, and videos with your followers, friends, and family in an instant. However, some occasional glitches and issues with the app can dampen the experience. One such instance is when the Snapchat app fails to play videos on your Android or iPhone.

Whether you are experiencing issues with video playback in Snapchat chats, Memories, or Spotlight, this guide can help you with all those problems. So, without further ado, let’s get going.

1. Check Your Internet Connection

A slow or inconsistent internet connection may lead you to believe there are problems with the Snapchat app. Hence, before trying anything else, you need to first check your internet connection. You can do that by opening a web browser and loading a few websites, or running an internet speed test.

If your internet is working fine, continue with the fixes below.

2. Force Close and Reopen the App

Temporary issues with the Snapchat app can sometimes prevent it from loading videos on your Android or iPhone. You can try force-closing the Snapchat app and reopening it to see if that helps.

To force close Snapchat on an Android, long-press on its app icon and tap the ‘i’ icon from the menu that appears. On the App info page, tap the Force stop option at the bottom.

For those using Snapchat on an iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or press the Home Screen button twice) to bring up the app switcher. Swipe up on the Snapchat card to close the app.

Reopen the Snapchat app and see if you encounter the error again.

3. Review App Permissions

A lack of relevant permissions could prevent the Snapchat app from playing videos stored in the camera roll or loading videos in chats. To avoid such issues, you need to ensure that Snapchat has all the necessary permissions.

Android

Step 1: Long press on the Snapchat app icon and tap the ‘i’ icon from the menu that pops up. On the App Info page, select Permissions.

Step 2: Go through each permission one by one and set them to Allow.

iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and scroll down to tap on Snapchat. Then, use the toggles in the following menu to enable all the necessary permissions.

Step 2: Tap on Photos and select All Photos in the following menu.

4. Turn Off Data Saver Mode in Snapchat

Snapchat offers a data saver mode that can be helpful if you’re on a limited data plan. However, this feature can sometimes cause videos to freeze or lag repeatedly on Snapchat. Hence, disabling Snapchat’s data saver mode is best when you don’t need it.

Step 1: Open the Snapchat app and tap the profile icon at the top-left corner. Then, tap the gear-shaped icon at the top-right corner.

Step 2: Scroll down to tap on Data Saver. Then, clear the Data Saver checkbox in the following menu.

Restart the app to check if the issue still occurs.

5. Temporarily Disable VPN

Using a VPN connection may be great for privacy, but it can sometimes lead to connection issues with apps like Snapchat. When this happens, Snapchat may fail to load or play videos on your Android or iPhone. You can temporarily disable your VPN connection to see if that solves the problem.

6. Check if Snapchat Is Down

At times, server congestion or other related issues can impact Snapchat’s performance and trigger various errors. You can visit a website like Downdetector to see if there’s an issue with Snapchat’s servers.

Visit Downdetector

If you notice huge spikes on the outage graph, you need to wait for Snapchat to fix the issue on its end.

7. Clear Snapchat App Cache

While cache files are helpful to ensure faster app and content load times. However, if the Snapchat cache files on your phone somehow become inaccessible, they could disrupt app processes and cause problems.

Luckily, Snapchat makes it easy to get rid of these problematic files by allowing you to clear the cache within the in-app settings menu. You can use the following steps on Android and iPhone.

Step 1: In the Snapchat app, tap on your profile icon and then tap the cog icon to open Snapchat settings.

Step 2: Scroll down to Account Actions and tap the Clear Cache option. Select Continue when prompted.

8. Update the App

An outdated or buggy Snapchat app could run into issues while loading or playing videos on your phone. If the above tips don’t work, consider updating the Snapchat app as a last resort.

Snapchat for Android

Snapchat for iPhone

From Still to Thrill

When Snapchat is your go-to platform for socializing, encountering such issues with the app can leave you frustrated. The above tips will help fix any problems and allow you to play videos on Snapchat as before.