YouTube app bug causes Shorts to open by default: Here’s how to fix it

A frustrating bug has reportedly affected some YouTube app users, causing the app to open directly to Shorts instead of the homepage.

This issue has been reported by multiple users on Reddit, with some experiencing the problem over the past couple of weeks.

Notably, the bug seems to occur even when Shorts was not the last thing viewed on the platform. Several YouTube users have noticed that if they've opened Shorts at any point, the app will default to opening Shorts on subsequent launches.

To reproduce the issue, users simply need to open Shorts once. After that, every time they launch the YouTube app, it will open Shorts by default.

Going back will reveal the homepage as expected, but it's clear that the app is mistakenly opening Shorts over the normal homepage.

The issue can be resolved temporarily by Resetting the app by clearing storage and cache. However, once the Shorts are opened again, the problem returns.

While it's unclear how widespread this issue is, reports have suggested it's affecting an increasing number of users globally.

The issue has been observed on Android devices, including the Nothing Phone (3a) and Pixel 9 Pro Fold; however, it is unclear if iOS users are also affected.

Since YouTube is a pre-installed app on Android, uninstalling it isn't possible, but uninstalling updates via the Play Store has the same effect as resetting the app.