The comments section used to reside at the bottom-most section of the video page on the YouTube app for the longest time. Still, more recently, it has been moved into a collapsible pane right beneath the description section below each YouTube video. On the desktop version, however, the comments section is still in the same place as it used to be despite a change in the layout of the overall YouTube page. If you have been facing the issue where the comments section below a YouTube video is not loading for you, we have curated a list of ten solutions that you can use to fix this issue. The list of solutions includes fixes for both the smartphone app on Android/iOS and also if you are using YouTube on your laptop/computer, basically the desktop version of YouTube on a web browser.
Why YouTube Comments do not load?
While it is not easy to pin-point the exact issue behind ‘YouTube comments not loading’ for you, there are multiple possible reasons for this. It may be an issue on your end or possibly even on YouTube’s end as the website is always heavy on traffic, and there can be server-side issues as well. There can even be some external factors that can be affecting the website or app from displaying its complete contents.
YouTube Comments Not Loading: How to Fix?
1. Check your Internet Connection
This is one of the most basic steps that you can take to try and solve the issue of YouTube comments not loading. At times, if your internet connection is not stable or the bandwidth is low, only parts of the website are loaded. This may result in the comments section not loading under a YouTube video. You can try restarting your network router or if you use an ethernet cable, try unplugging and plugging the cable back in. Then, reload the YouTube page and see if the comments section loads.
2. Switch from Mobile Data to Wi-Fi or vice-versa
If you are trying to use the YouTube app on your smartphone or tablet and the comments section does not load, try switching to Wi-Fi if you are on mobile data to see if that helps. Generally, Wi-Fi connections are much stabler and offer better speeds when compared to mobile data, which relies on the signal strength from cellular towers nearby. However, if you are already using a Wi-Fi network and the YouTube comments are not loading, you can try switching over to your mobile data to see if the issue still persists. If it does, it probably means you are having issues with your Wi-Fi network and you should contact your ISP for a resolution.
3. Open YouTube Video in Incognito Mode
If you are accessing YouTube through the app or your normal browser window, chances are that you are logged into YouTube with your Google Account. At times, even if there is an issue with your account, YouTube comments may not load. In order to try playing the video without signing in, you can try launching an incognito window on your browser and then navigating to the video’s page. For example, use ‘Control + Shift + N’ (for Windows) or ‘Command + Shift + N’ (for Mac) to quickly launch an Incognito tab in Chrome. If that was indeed the problem, you should now be able to see the YouTube comments section.
4. Sign-in with a Different Account
As mentioned in the above point, if you want to confirm if the issue is really with your Google Account, you can sign out of your existing account, sign in with a different Google account, and then open the same link to see if the YouTube comments are now loading. If this method works, it means there is something wrong with your account, and maybe you can try logging in with the same account on a different device to see if the comments load.
5. Try a Different Browser
For all you know, the tool you are using to access YouTube, which is your browser, might cause the YouTube comments not loading issue. Every web browser runs on a web engine, and if there is some issue with the engine itself, it can result in some errors or glitches while accessing the web. The best way to verify this is to just use a different browser on your computer to access the same URL and see if the comments section loads. By default, if you use the Google Chrome browser, try using something like Firefox or Safari since they are based on different engines. Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium engine which is the same as Google Chrome so you may see similar results on both browsers. If using a different browser fixed your issue, you can be certain that your default browser is not behaving the way it is supposed to, and you can wait for an update to fix it.
6. Disable VPN
VPN or Virtual Private Network is a great way to mask your presence on the internet for privacy reasons, or it can even be used to access some websites or services that are blocked/unavailable in your region. However, it is observed that a VPN does not go along too well with some websites and can cause issues. To make sure that it is not your VPN that is causing the YouTube comments not to load, you can try disabling it for the time being and then reload the page. If the comments section now shows up, it means that your VPN is interfering with some functions of a few websites like YouTube.
7. Change DNS Server
DNS stands for Domain Name System and is essentially responsible for locating the domains you want to access in a way that is understandable to the computer. While the abbreviation or its function might seem intimidating, it is rather easy to change the DNS server on both your computer and smartphone regardless of what OS/platform they are running on. Alternatively, you can even change the DNS server on your router directly, and you won’t have to change it manually on all your devices. We recommend using Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS, which is among the more popular options, and it also claims to give you a slight boost in internet speeds. Depending on what device you have, you can visit Cloudflare’s website here and choose your device based on which you will see relevant instructions on how to change your DNS server. It hardly takes two minutes, but it can help you solve the YouTube comments not showing up issue.
8. Clear Cookies and Cached Data of App or Browser
When you keep using an app or open webpages in your browser, cookies and cache start to build up, which may at times cause a hindrance towards some parts of a website being loaded or irregular functioning of an app. Thus, clearing cookies and cached data of your web browser from time to time is a good idea and may even solve the problem for you. If you are using the YouTube app on your smartphone, go to your phone’s Settings page, then head over to Applications, find the YouTube app, and select the ‘Clear Cache’ option under ‘Storage and Cache’. Then, restart the YouTube app and the comments section should now work normally. If you are accessing YouTube through a web browser on your computer, open the browser and go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data. Select the time range to ‘All time’ and select the ‘Advanced’ tab wherein you have to select the checkboxes next to ‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’. You can now click on “Clear data” and restart the browser. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Delete, taking you to the clear browsing data dialog box. This should ideally fix the “YouTube comments not loading” issue.
9. Disable Ad-Blockers and Extensions
While Ad-blockers improve your online experience by disabling ads on all web pages, more often than not, they are also the primary cause of problems or issues while browsing, and thus, using an ad-blocker is not recommended. You can disable your ad-blocker completely or turn it off just for YouTube and then reload the same page to see if the issue is resolved. Adblock solutions have been reported to mess with YouTube multiple times and it is best to leave it disabled for the optimum experience. If you do not use an ad-blocker or continue to encounter the same YouTube comments not loading issue, it is recommended to check all your installed extensions to see if they are causing an issue. You can disable all the installed extensions from your browser’s settings page and then restart the browser for the changes to take effect. If this solves your problem, it is now time to enable every extension one by one to detect which specific extension is causing the issue.
10. Check if Comments are Loading for a Different Video
If YouTube comments are not loading or showing up for you under a specific video, try playing a different video from a different channel to see if the comments are visible. It may happen at times that a creator or channel could have blocked or banned you from their channel previously for a comment that you may have posted under their video and as a result, it is possible that you no longer have access to the comments under any of their videos. Also, creators may disable comments on their videos. That means that the video you’re watching may have the comments disabled by the uploader. There are some situations where YouTube itself has disabled comments on certain videos. These were the top ten solutions that are tried and tested to fix YouTube comments not loading. You can try each of these solutions one-by-one to see which one works for you. If none of the above methods works, the issue is probably on YouTube’s side, and you will have to wait for them to roll out an update to address this issue. You may have some related questions to the topic that may not have been answered above, so we’ll try to answer those questions pertinent to the same topic in this section.
(a) Why is my YouTube comment not showing up in the comments section?
YouTube comments appear in an order that the algorithm decides and is influenced by the popularity of the comment as well. If there are comments with a lot of likes and replies, or if the channel has given a comment a heart, there are chances that those comments will appear at the top. If you have commented recently and are unable to see your comment in the YouTube comments section, head over to the beginning of the comments, and you will find a “Sort By” option. Select “Newest First” and you should now be able to see your comment.
(b) How to edit/delete a comment on YouTube?
If you have already posted a comment under a YouTube video, you have an option to either edit or delete the comment. You can do so by tapping on the three-dot menu and selecting what you want to do.
(c) Why do some YouTube comments fail to post?
This is another common issue that YouTube users often report. If you are trying to post a comment under a YouTube video but are unable to, it can be due to various reasons. Two probable reasons include an unstable internet connection and if that is the case, you can try posting the comment after some time. The other reason can be that your comment may include a word or phrase that the creator has blacklisted/blocked from their channel, in which case your comment will be automatically hidden or deleted by YouTube.
