Can't play video in safari

It's 110% an iOS 13.4 issue affecting iPhone 7. There is a video out there that showed this issue even in the beta (https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSBeta/comments/f0yrtp/bug_cant_watch_browser_video_on_134_beta_7_plus/).

Furthermore, it's broken on all browsers, not just safari. It doesn't work on chrome or firefox either. Doesn't work even if you request the desktop website.

I downgraded my phone to 13.3.1 and the video returns and works perfectly. Upgraded back to 13.4 on a clean install and the browser video breaks again. Not related to wifi, or poor connection, or anything else. I've tried restarting, erasing all settings, restoring the phone etc etc.

Absolutely infuriating bug, especially seeing as that it was present in the beta which was released over a month ago. Plenty of time to fix this nonsense issue. No reason for this to be happening. Bad oversight by the software development team. Guess this is how they force upgrades on consumers...

Hey bikram144,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities! I understand you're unable to watch videos with Safari. I definitely understand how important it is to get this resolved, and I'm happy to help.

If you haven't already done so, start with a restart of your device. Restarting is a simple step that can resolve a variety of issues. You can see how to restart here: Restart your iPhone

I also want to share the resource below with you, and recommend clearing the history from Safari, and checking into your settings for cookies as well. Blocking cookies can prevent some features on a site from working as expected.

Clear history and cookies from Safari on you iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Thanks again, and have a great day!

Have you checked Settings/Screen Time for any restrictions?

Do you have access to another WiFi network where you can try? That has worked for several people.

Try a restart.

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch         

Try a forced restart.

Reset Device.     

If necessary

Hard reset.        

If there are restrictions in Screen Time that are preventing access, you will need to restore the device to factory settings. Do not restore from a backup made when the Screen Time code was active.

If there aren't any Screen Time restrictions, do a backup and try a factory reset. Then restore from your backup.

Restore to Factory setting.      

Backup - Restore your device from an iCloud or iTunes backup.     

Hey bikram144,

Thanks for following up with us. Are you attempting to watch videos from multiple sites in Safari and experiencing this issue? Are you able to watch videos using different apps? I also recommend testing to see if this behavior happens with both Wi-Fi and cellular data. Let us know the results and we'll go from there.

Cheers!

Hi Everyone,

I was also impacted by this. I've followed and tried all the steps that were suggested and it makes sense. It was the iOS update that caused this issue. Well there be an update correcting this issue? Has anyone found a work around that can work while this is being handled other than downgrading back to the pervious iOS?

It's the same for me too; and it's all browsers, not just Safari. I've had too many problems with iOS updates making my older phone more and more useless for no reason at all. Another update messed up my phone so that it doesn't recognize my microphone or any headphones or aux cords. The problems these updates are causing are particularly suspicious because the most direct fix would be to buy another Apple product. With the microphone and headphone issue I looked up what other people who shared this problem had to say, and many of them said that they were told to buy "a nice pair of Bluetooth headphones" such as Apple's Airpods. I already own Airpods and have been using them for all of my calls, but I don't always have them and can't always take calls which is ridiculous. I'm really not sure why wired headphones and aux cords don't work while Carplay still does. My real problem with the microphone and headphones issue is the people that don't already have Airpods and are being compelled to buy them as a fix to Apple's problem. Relating this back to the Problem with playing videos in browsers, these issues seem to have a common message: your phone is too old, buy a new one. I have always been a fan of the iPhone, my current one being my second; but these updates that appear to be making older phones obsolete on purpose have made me question what Apple might eventually do to a new iPhone that I might buy. At this point, I'm just going to revert back to that last version of iOS that browsers were usable for my phone and I'm definitely not going to crawl back to Apple to buy a new phone that will just purposefully be made obsolete when the next one comes out. I really do not like brands telling me what to do and what products I can and can't own. Apple, if you are going to keep giving updates for phones that are older than you would like, stop breaking our devices.

Has anyone found a solution to this or had an answer from apple yet? I have the same issue, sound for video plays but no picture. Seems to be Safari and only the BBC app. I’m also on iPhone 7 and IOS 13.4.1.

I am having the same issue on my iPhone 7 IOS 13.4 (17E255).

only sound is playing and no video in any browser. I have tried all the things mentioned in this thread but my issue is not resolved.

Video playing with sound but no picture displayed on all safari sites. YouTube works fine through the app this problem only affects safari.. problem only started after updating to iOS 13.4!?!?!

I’m having the same problem on my iphone 6. I noticed it happened after I updated my ios to 12.4.5. I can’t play videos on Facebook and safari.