Several users have shared on social media that they are encountering difficulties when trying to view videos on YouTube in resolutions higher than 480p. These complaints cover both free subscribers and those with the Premium subscription, and appear to be restricted to the service's mobile applications.
The Android Authority portal identified multiple complaints about this issue on the Reddit platform. Although most reports are recent, there is a record dating back one month. Furthermore, reports have been observed on other social media, such as X.
It is important to note that instabilities caused by the device itself, the platform, or the internet connection can cause temporary fluctuations in YouTube's image quality, which does not constitute a technical defect inherent to the streaming service. However, the cases under discussion are distinct.
Users point out that the YouTube application only displays resolutions such as 144p, 240p, 360p, and 480p, without being able to exceed this limit, even though YouTube supports video formats like 1080p and 4K.
To date, YouTube has not provided any official explanation for this limitation. Because of this, affected users are seeking solutions on their own. One user reported that higher resolutions returned after deleting the application cache on their phone. Another person managed to solve the problem by reinstalling the application, although the inconvenience reappeared later.
There are also reports from users who were unsuccessful with any of the suggested methods. If this happens and the problem is very bothersome, an alternative is to use the web version of YouTube while waiting for an app update that may fix the flaw. The service has been functioning normally in the browser.