Sometimes watching streaming video on your Android Smartphone can be a frustrating experience. You can’t just put any movie on Netflix or Hulu and expect it to play; you have to fiddle with settings, try different applications, and search high and low for the right settings just to get a glimpse of what the fuss is about.
It’s enough to drive anyone up the wall. If you’re struggling to get a handle on your streaming video on an Android phone, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve put together 6 troubleshooting steps to watch streaming video on your Android phone like a boss.
Make sure your Android phone is compatible
The first thing you should do is make sure your Smartphone is compatible with streaming video. These days, there are a lot of Android phones out there—over 1 billion of them, to be exact.
Unfortunately, not all of them are able to stream video without a hitch. That’s why it’s super important to know whether or not your phone can handle the streaming requirements of a particular app.
If you’re not sure, don’t panic—we’ve got you covered. The good news is that most modern Android phones can handle the vast majority of streaming apps. The only phones that might have trouble are those that were released more than a year ago.
If you’re still unsure, you can always search online for “streaming video” on your phone and see what comes up.
Make sure the streaming service you want to use is supported by your Android phone
This one is pretty important! You see, not all streaming services are created equal. Some are geared toward people who want to watch sports, while others are focused more on drama.
Some, like Sling TV and DirecTV Now, are even offering a bundle deal that includes both sports and entertainment programming. A lot of this will depend on your location, but it’s definitely something you’ll want to check before you get started.
The only way to do this is to visit the official website of the streaming service you’re considering and do a quick search to see what apps are supported. If a service is listed as being supported, that’s a good sign.
Change your Android phone streaming settings
This tip might seem obvious, but it’s important nonetheless. Whenever you’re trying to stream video on your phone for the first time, you’ll want to make sure you change your streaming settings.
On most devices, this is done by heading to Settings > Applications > Manage applications > Streaming video. From here, you can select which apps can stream video, set your preferred resolution, and set your preferred bitrate.
It’s important to note that if you have a limited data plan, your bitrate will be capped. That means you can’t stream video at a higher bitrate than is allowed—the same goes for your streaming resolution. If you have unlimited data, you can set both your bitrate and resolution as high as you’d like.
Try another app
Sometimes, a particular app just isn’t cut out for streaming video. Maybe it lags too much or has other issues, like buffering or stuttering.
If you find yourself having issues with an app, you can try another one—there’s no need to feel bad about it. Most apps have a “video mode” that will let you stream media.
If you try another app and still have issues, send the developer an email with your video settings and see if they have any suggestions.
Check your WiFi settings
This tip might seem a bit elementary, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do it. When you’re trying to stream video on your phone, you’ll often have to connect to a WiFi network.
This is because a lot of online media is actually stored on a server and streamed to your phone. If you don’t have a WiFi network available, you won’t be able to stream anything.
You may have to turn on “mobile data” or “wifi” to get things going, or you can try connecting to a nearby coffee shop or restaurant.
Reset your Android Smartphone to its factory settings
There may come a time when you’re experiencing streaming issues and you just can’t figure it out. In those cases, a factory reset may be your best bet.
This will completely reset your phone to its factory settings and remove all of your streaming data. It will also remove any customizations you’ve made to the operating system, so make sure you’re backing up important data before doing so.
You can always reinstall apps afterwards, if you want, but this will get your phone back to square one.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed this article about 6 troubleshooting steps to watch streaming video on your Android phone like a boss.
Streaming video on an Android phone can be a frustrating experience, but it doesn’t have to be. With a little bit of detective work, you can usually figure out what’s wrong and get things working properly.
There are also a lot of helpful resources online—we stripped down the process as much as possible so you don’t have to go through the pain of figuring everything out on your own.
With a little bit of effort, you’ll be watching all the latest movies and TV shows in no time.
