Help :-( Facebook app, can't play any videos

[thanrah]

I can't watch facebook videos from within the Facebook app. The videos play fine if I open up Facebook from the browser. I have latest Flash installed and latest Facebook app update. Every time I push play it I don't get any error message or anything, rather an initial black screen just for a split-second and from there it doesn't even register any pressing of the play button. Any help pls?

 

[Mikestony]

I can't watch facebook videos from within the Facebook app. The videos play fine if I open up Facebook from the browser. I have latest Flash installed and latest Facebook app update. Every time I push play it I don't get any error message or anything, rather an initial black screen just for a split-second and from there it doesn't even register any pressing of the play button. Any help pls?

Welcome to AF thanrah!
I would tend to blame the update. I don't use the FB app so I can't test it.
Try uninstalling the updates or perhaps someone else will know

 

[iPredator]

I had this issue all i did to fix it was uninstall the the app and then reinstall it and that fixed it for me if that dont work

I would try to uninstall the update like mike said

 

[thanrah]

Thanks for your responses.

I tried the uninstall and reinstall but still same issue.

Will see what I can do to back out the update I guess

 

[Mikestony]

Thanks for your responses.

I tried the uninstall and reinstall but still same issue.

Will see what I can do to back out the update I guess

Well, since you uninstalled, then reinstalled FB, you installed the updated version.
Therefore there are no updates to uninstall...follow?

 

[thanrah]

Well, since you uninstalled, then reinstalled FB, you installed the updated version.
Therefore there are no updates to uninstall...follow?

ah yes you are quite right - I should have thought about iPredator's reply before acting on it. i guess i can only wait until they finally fix the app itself...

 

[iPredator]

Yea sorry about that I mistyped it was supposed to say uninstall update first and if that dodnt work uninstall reinstall

 

[JeriS]

I have had similar problems with the Facebook app, but only with certain videos. I find that YouTube videos play just fine, but videos from other sites sometimes do not play. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to high tech stuff so maybe this idea is totally wrong, but I am thinking that maybe the phone can't figure out what program to use to open the file?

 

[Mikestony]

I have had similar problems with the Facebook app, but only with certain videos. I find that YouTube videos play just fine, but videos from other sites sometimes do not play. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to high tech stuff so maybe this idea is totally wrong, but I am thinking that maybe the phone can't figure out what program to use to open the file?

Since I don't use FB, enlighten me. When you are on the FB app, and click on a YouTube video that someone has posted, does it bring you to the YouTube website or does it play while in the FB app?

And when you click on a video that someone posted, from other sources than YouTube, does it play or do you get a popup asking what app to use to play the video?

 

[JeriS]

Since I don't use FB, enlighten me. When you are on the FB app, and click on a YouTube video that someone has posted, does it bring you to the YouTube website or does it play while in the FB app?

And when you click on a video that someone posted, from other sources than YouTube, does it play or do you get a popup asking what app to use to play the video?

When I clicked on the YouTube video it asked whether I wanted to use YouTube or the internet. I selected YouTube and then it asked just this once or every time. I selected just this once, and it took me to YouTube. The very first video I tried to open back when I first got my phone was from another source and it did not give me a popup, just a black screen and nothing happened. I just tried playing someone's home video from the FB app and it worked fine. I also just tried a YouTube video and it gave me the same popup and played fine. Not sure what to say, maybe it was just that website. Edited to correct some wrong information.

 

[thanrah]

When I clicked on the YouTube video it asked whether I wanted to use YouTube or the internet. I selected YouTube and then it asked just this once or every time. I selected just this once, and it took me to YouTube. The very first video I tried to open back when I first got my phone was from another source and it did not give me a popup, just a black screen and nothing happened. I just tried playing someone's home video from the FB app and it worked fine. I also just tried a YouTube video and it gave me the same popup and played fine. Not sure what to say, maybe it was just that website. Edited to correct some wrong information.

yep this is exactly the same as me. the Youtube videos also work fine but not others. I too agree that it may well be an issue where the phone doesn't know what player to use. when its a Youtube video it knows to use Youtube but with others maybe it gets confused. I've looked for settings within the phone which say to use Quickpic, or Double Twist, or Video Player or whatever else as the default for videos but I have been unable to find such a setting.

 

[thanrah]

Since I don't use FB, enlighten me. When you are on the FB app, and click on a YouTube video that someone has posted, does it bring you to the YouTube website or does it play while in the FB app?

And when you click on a video that someone posted, from other sources than YouTube, does it play or do you get a popup asking what app to use to play the video?

normally with the app (eg on an iPhone) you can watch all the videos within the app itself - it just plays within the little window contained within the FB newsfeed page. However with the Android version when someone has shared a Youtube video within FB and you click on it, you get taken away to browser and then given the "complete action using" option which allows you to choose Internet, Chrome, or Youtube to watch the video. If you choose Youtube it will take you to that video in the Youtube website within your browser. Same thing with vimeo.com videos - it will play the video from the vimeo.com website within the browser as opposed to within the FB app itself. Any other videos however there is a very brief split second black screen and reverts back to the FB page.

 

[En4cer2k11]

I always use a third-party video player like MXPlayer to play videos on Facebook from within the app. Maybe the stock player isn't compatible for some reason? I never use it, so I'm not sure about it.

 

[thanrah]

I always use a third-party video player like MXPlayer to play videos on Facebook from within the app. Maybe the stock player isn't compatible for some reason? I never use it, so I'm not sure about it.

Downloaded MXPlayer app and now I get given an option on which player I want to use which means I can now view these vids. Yay! Thanks for the advice everyone.

Also fwiw, during all of this looking for a way to see the vids, I downloaded latest Flash app. Recently I started getting all of these random apps (Poker, dating services ,etc) popping up on my phone, none of which I had downloaded. I used the AirPush Detector app which isolated Flash as the cause. I have deleted Flash and now my Android life is good again . So a big plug for AirPush Detector!