Videos taking longer than usual to initially load or when scrubbing/skipping to different parts

Does anyone have a solution to videos not loading as fast as they used to in the YouTube app and also loading slowly when skipping through to parts that you don’t want to watch?

My connection speed on my iPhone usually holds at 15mbps and will never go over 17. This makes scrubbing through videos that are 1440p60 or 2160p a much worse experience than it used to be. It was instant with practically no buffer in the past. I don’t recall exactly when I started having issues. 2160p60 is now unwatchable with the amount of buffering. Also it is an issue for HDR videos.

I am aware that iPhones, no matter which current or past model, do not have 3840x2160 resolution displays, but having the option to select that resolution and allow your iPhone to downscale it to fit your screen results in better quality compared to watching in the highest resolution your display supports because of the way encoding works.

Youtube used to connect at 120mbps on my iPhone. I’ve tried on multiple devices on multiple networks, including cellular networks. It has only been iPhones that are affected and only the videos, not the ads. Even when watching through safari. I haven’t tested on an iPad or android device yet. But my Mac, Apple TV 4K 2nd gen, and LG C9 all connect at 120mbps or greater. My devices are all up to date. I’ve tried a litany of troubleshooting steps all to no avail.

Is this a problem with all iPhones from an update in iOS or more so with YouTube?

You can check your connection speed by going into the YouTube app>tap your user icon in the top right>tap settings>tap general>toggle on “stats for nerds”>start a video>tap the 3 dots in top right>select “stats for nerds”.

I’ve spoken with YouTube support and that was no help whatsoever. I’ve submitted feedback multiple times already and nothing has changed.

Below is a screenshot of stats during a video and then stats during a long ad that I didn’t skip just to see if there was a difference.