Mobile-First Tips to Resolve Messenger Video Playback Issues

If your Facebook Messenger video is not playing or shows loading errors, here’s a guide to fixing the problem. This post from MiniTool MovieMaker (a free Windows movie maker) covers 6 methods that may help solve the annoying problem of videos not playing in Messenger.

Facebook Messenger offers multiple options to share your thoughts and feelings with friends, such as videos, photos, messages, GIFs, stickers, and more in chats. However, it must be frustrating if those media files or messages are not showing or loading correctly. Recently, some users reported another issue with the app: videos not playing in Messenger.

If you also suffer from this problem, how can you fix it? This tutorial collects some common workarounds to help you solve the issue.

Solutions to Videos Not Playing in Messenger

Here are 6 troubleshooting tips for Messenger videos not playing issue.

#1. Check Your Internet Connection

A good internet connection is required to play videos in Messenger or other apps. Messenger won’t play videos if you have an unstable or poor internet connection. When you unfortunately encounter this issue, do a speed test or open another app such as Instagram to see if it plays the video properly.

If your Instagram can’t play videos either, here are some tips to troubleshoot the internet connection on your device.

Disconnect and reconnect to your Wi-Fi.
If you’re using mobile data, enable airplane mode and turn it off after a few seconds.
Restart your phone. A simple restart may take a fix to a bad connection.
Ensure you allow the Messenger app to use mobile data on your phone.

However, if the test shows that your internet is good and fast, the video playback issue may be caused by a bug or error in the Messenger app. Please try the following steps to fix it.

#2. Clear the Messenger App’s Cache (Android)

If you suspect videos not playing in Messenger might be due to an app glitch, you can first clear the app’s cache and see if that helps. It’s simple to delete Messenger’s cache on an Android phone:

Open the Settings app and scroll down to Apps.
Type “messenger” in the search bar and tap Messenger to open App Info.
Click on Storage and tap the Clear cache button at the bottom.
Tap Clear data and select OK to confirm.

After that, return to the App Info page, click on Permissions, and make sure all permissions are allowed for Messenger, which may also help fix the video problem in the app.

#3. Offload the Messenger App (iPhone)

Offloading an app is a simple and effective method to solve many app-related issues on iPhones, which will delete the app but keep its documents and data. So, when Messenger won’t play videos on your iPhone, try offloading the app to fix it.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Select General > iPhone Storage > Messenger.
Tap Offload App and select the option again to confirm.
Then, reinstall the Messenger app.

#4. Update Messenger

If you’re still using an earlier version of the Messenger app, update it to the latest version and check if it plays videos correctly. This is because new updates always bring bug fixes and improve app performance.

Go to the Google Play Store or App Store and type “messenger” in the search bar. If you can see an Update button, tap it to install the latest version. If you see an Open button, your Messenger is up to date.

#5. Disable Data Saver Mode (Android)

The Messenger for Android app has a Data Saver mode designed to limit the amount of data used for image and video downloads. If you’ve enabled this setting, temporarily turn it off and see if this resolves the video not playing issue.

In the Messenger app, the three-line button in the top left corner, tap the Settings icon, click Data Saver, and tap the toggle to turn it off.

#6. Save the Video to Your Phone

Another solution to Messenger videos not playing is to download the video to your phone and play it using your device’s default player or a third-party video player like VLC. It’s best to save videos to your phone via a Wi-Fi connection, otherwise, it will consume a lot of mobile data.

Bonus Tip: How to Send a Video Over 25MB in Messenger

When you send a video through Messenger, it cannot exceed 25MB, because this is the current maximum attachment file size. So, how can you send a video over 25MB in Messenger? Here are two applications to help you get rid of this limit.

MiniTool MovieMaker is a free video editor without watermarks. Use this app to trim the video to remove unwanted parts, and you can get a smaller file. Additionally, you can choose a low resolution when exporting to make the final video smaller than 25MB.

MiniTool MovieMakerClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

MiniTool Video Converter is a free video converter and compressor without watermarks. This program gives you more options to compress videos for Messenger, such as lowering the video resolution and bitrate.

MiniTool Video ConverterClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Conclusion

That’s all about the solutions to videos not playing in Messenger. Hopefully, these tips can make this annoying problem go away so that you can watch videos in your Messenger chats smoothly.

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About The Author

Cora Follow Us

Position: Columnist

Cora works as an editor at MiniTool for many years, writing articles about video editing, video conversion, and screen recording. She also writes articles about Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter. During her spare time, Cora loves reading, traveling, and watching movies.