YouTube’s no stranger to weird UI and functionality-hindering bugs, and today’s no different.
Something strange is afoot, but only on the web version of YouTube. The platform’s search filters, which normally let users narrow down video search results on the basis of upload date, video type, duration, features, and different sort criteria, are currently completely broken for many, including us.
The issue has been reported by several users on Reddit, with numerous commenters subsequently confirming the bug’s existence (via Android Authority). I went ahead and checked out the web version for myself, and yes, the search filters are essentially all grayed out for me.
This isn’t an old issue. Reports about it only started emerging 11 hours ago, with no rhyme or reason for the bug. To check if you’re affected too, head to www.YouTube.com and search for literally anything. You should see ‘Filters’ with an icon for it on the top right. Tap it.
Normally, this would highlight all the search filters as clickable buttons. Currently, all of those filters are displayed as unselectable, grayed-out text, as seen in the screenshot below.
Mobile apps are safe
‘Relevance’ under ‘Sort by’ is the only filter that’s not grayed out. ‘Relevance’ also happens to be the default filter. All other filters in the Sort by menu are also selectable.
For what it’s worth, this issue isn’t isolated to one browser or accounts. I’ve tried three different browsers, two different accounts (one with Premium and one without), with and without an ad-blocker enabled, and even with both Wi-Fi and mobile data. In all cases, the filters remained broken.
The same bug doesn’t surface on Android or iOS apps, but it does surface when you visit YouTube through your phone’s browser.
Are you seeing the grayed out search filters too? Let us know in the comments below.
We’ll update this article if and when YouTube acknowledges the issue or fixes it.
