Watching an episode of The Mandalorian but for some reason, the stream keeps buffering?
Perhaps after much buffering you get an error message that says “Oh no — something went wrong. Please try again. If you continue to have issues, please visit our Help Center at help.disneyplus.com. (No Error Code)”?
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It can be really frustrating but honestly speaking the platform is still remains to be an unfinished product and still lack the stability and security patches that keep it from being a target of data breaches and countless playback issues. Although this may turn for the better in the coming months, if you’re a current Disney Plus user right now, then expect issues like with the buffering and weird subtitles from popping up.
In this guide, we will share a few tips and solutions which we have found to have worked reliably well for us to reduce the number of buffering that comes with streaming on Disney+ (we are not promising that the solutions will end buffering once and for all) as well as keep the playback issues to a minimum..
Let’s jump right in.
Disney+ Stream Keep Buffering? Here’s The Fix! 7 Ways
1. Check If Your Internet Speeds Are Fast Enough To Stop Buffering.
As is the case for almost all streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+ is no exception in that it has its own recommendations for how fast your internet speed should be in order to play a video at certain video qualities.
Usually, if your internet connection is ever slow then the stream will automatically adjust itself by decreasing the video quality to reduce the buffering that occurs. You can see this action with most streaming services as well as on YouTube too. Hence, if you find that there are much too buffering with your stream, then that tells us that the internet connection is unstable and not strong enough.
Disney recommends the following internet speeds for their HD and 4KUHD video quality streaming on Disney+:
- 5.0 Mbps for High Definition
- 25.0 Mbps for 4K UHD
You can test your current internet speeds by using a service like Speedtest.net which will provide a measure to compare with the recommendations for Disney+ above.
2. Keep On The Lookout for Disney+ App Updates.
Since Disney+ is relatively a new app (at the time of this writing) there will be frequent updates that are released to patch up bugs.
We will show you how you can check for updates no matter which device you’re on:
If you’re on an Apple device such as an iPhone or an iPad
- Open up the App Store and then tap on your profile icon.
- Next, under the Available Updates (if any) you can check if there any pending updates for all your apps including the Disney+ app.
- Lastly, simply tap on the Update button to begin the updating process.
If you’re on an Android device
- Open the Google Play Store app and then tap the Menu (it’s the one that looks like a hamburger icon).
- Next tap on My apps & games.
- Then apps with an update available will be labelled “Update.”
- Lastly, simply tap on the Update button to begin the updating process.
If you’re on a Mac
- Launch the Mac App Store from your Dock or using Finder.
- Next, click on Updates from the left-hand side menu.
- Lastly, click on the Update button next to the Disney+ app if there is a pending update or click Update All to update all apps in the queue.
If you’re on a PS4, then you can follow this guide here.
If you’re on an Xbox One, then you can follow this guide here.
3. Force Close the Disney+ App.
Another effective way to jumpstart the app from any buffering issue is to fully force close the app if you’re on your smartphone.
If you’re on an iPhone without a Home button such as an iPhone X, iPhone XS or XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro then you can force-close the Disney+ app by swiping up from your bottom part of the screen and stop in halfway in the middle as shown in the GIF below. This will bring up all your apps that are running in the background. Simply swipe up on the Disney+ app to fully force close the app.
If you’re on an iPhone with a Home button such as an iPhone that is prior to the iPhone 8, then you can force-close the Disney+ app by double-pressing the Home button and then swiping up to force close the app.
If you’re on an Android device, this will vary from device to device. However, if you’re on a Google Pixel, then simply swipe up from the bottom of your screen to the middle. Then simply just swipe up on the Disney+ app.
If you’re on a Samsung, then from the Home screen simply tap on the Recent Apps shortcut. This icon is located in the bottom-left corner of your Samsung phone’s screen (looks like a hamburger icon with three lines). Simply tap on the icon and then swipe left or right to look for the Disney+ app. Once you find the Disney+ app simply swipe upwards to close it.
You can try once again to load up the Disney+ app and see if the force-closing of the app managed to fix the buffering issues with the streams.
4. Reinstall Disney+.
Uninstalling and then reinstalling the Disney+ helps to not only reduce the storage that it takes up but also loosen up any sticky situations which the app is in.
Similarly to our guides on reducing the storage of the Reddit app or any other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or Apple TV+, we found out that whenever you uninstall an app after much usage, you will notice that there will be a significant decrease in the amount of storage the app uses up.
The data that is removed in the process is what’s called the cached data — temporary files that get stored on your device to speed up the process of not having to load up the same parts of the app repeatedly.
One way to remove the cached data as well as fix any problems which the app is having is to simply uninstall and reinstall the Disney+ app.
The following steps will show you how to reinstall the Disney+ app effectively:
If you’re on an Apple device.
- Simply long-press on the Disney+ app from your Home page.
- Next as the app jiggles, tap on the x button on the app to Delete App.
- Lastly, head back into the App Store, look up “Disney Plus” and then reinstall it once again.
Done. Log back into your Disney+ account using the email and password registered with it.
If you’re on an Android device (varies between devices)
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Next, tap the Menu (the one that looks like a hamburger icon) and then tap on My apps & games.
- Now, tap on Disney+ app that is installed.
- Lastly, tap Uninstall. You can now go back and look up for “Disney Plus” in the Google Play Store and then proceed to reinstall it once again.
Done. Log back into your Disney+ account using the email and password registered with it.
If you’re on any other devices such as Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, LG TV, Playstation, Xbox One, Roku, then you may refer to the Disney’s complete guide on uninstall and reinstalling Disney+ on those devices.
5. Make Sure You Have The Right Cables For Disney+.
If you’re using a device like Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick or any other alternative, then it’s super important to use the cables and hardware that is recommended for streaming Disney+.
Disney recommends that high-speed HDMI cables and displays that have HDCP 2.2 for streaming content particularly if you’re looking to stream in HDR or 4K Ultra HD. Additionally, you will also need to have an HDCP 2.2 compliant cable.
I have listed down for your convenience the cables which you will be needing below that can be obtained via Amazon for cheap:
High-speed HDMI cables
- Best Bang for Buck: AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable, 6 Feet, 2-Pack, Supports HDCP 2.2 — $7.55
- Premium Option: Belkin Ultra HD High-Speed HDMI Cable Dolby Vision HDR, 2 M/6.ft, Supports HDCP 2.2 — $34.99
More on the recommended hardware configurations and components can be referenced here on the Disney+ page.
6. Clear Out Any Cached Data.
Aside from uninstalling and reinstalling the Disney+ app, on some devices such as if you’re using your search browser or Android devices then there are separate ways to remove the cached data that is stored.
If you’re using your search browser to stream, then here’s how you clear your browser cache:
If you’re on Google Chrome (on Mac and Windows)
- From the top right corner, click More (three vertical dots).
- Next, click More tools.
- Now, click Clear browsing data.
- Over here you will need to select a time range. To delete everything, select All time.
- Make sure that you check the boxes for Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. This will remove all the cache data that is stored for Disney+ too.
- Lastly, click Clear data. Done.
If you’re on Firefox (Mac)
- Firstly, click the History menu at the top of the screen.
- Next, select the Clear Recent History option.
- Now, from the drop-down menu for “Time range to clear:” select Everything.
- Make sure that you check off the box for Cache as well. Then click Clear Now to confirm.
- Lastly, restart or refresh Firefox. Done.
If you’re on Firefox (Windows)
- Firstly, click the Firefox menu (found in the top right corner).
- Next, select History and then select Clear Recent History.
- Now from the drop-down menu for “Time range to clear:” select Everything.
- Make sure that you check off the box for Cache as well. Then click Clear Now to confirm.
- Lastly, restart or refresh Firefox. Done.
If you’re on Safari (Mac)
- Firstly, click Safari from the menu bar.
- Next, select Preferences.
- Then select the Privacy tab.
- Now choose to Manage Website Data and click Remove All.
- Lastly, click Remove Now to confirm. Done.
For steps to clear out the cache from Edge, you may refer to the steps laid out here by Disney.
If you’re using an Android device (varies on device), then the steps are as follows:
- From the home screen go to Settings
- Next tap on Apps and then Disney+.
- Now tap on Storage.
- Over here hit the Clear Cache and Clear Data button to remove all cache data from the Disney+ app.
For steps to clear out the cache on Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV/Fire TV Stick, Playstation 4, Xbox One, you may refer to the complete guide by Disney.
7. Wait It Out.
Disney+ has currently more than 10 million subscribers all from just a week or two since the official launch.
That is pretty insane.
However, with insanity comes absurdity.
There has been a huge growing demand for the service with the growing numbers as well as the recent data breaches of the platform may have put their focus on circumventing that issue instead of efforts on maintaining the stability of the platform.
Put this all together and you will start to understand why the platform may have issues like buffering and closed caption issues however since it is still in its infancy, this will inevitably will be improved with updates.
Hence this will only come with time and a bit of patience. 🙂
8. Reach Out to Disney+ Support.
Disney provides three ways to reach out for help in case if you have an issue such as if a Disney+ stream keeps buffering.
First is to get in touch with them via Live Chat (which is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week) or Call Them:
And lastly, via their Disney+ Help Twitter page.
Try it and see if any of the ways above helps to address or at least have someone over at Disney raise the issue to their technical team.
We hope that this guide has helped you provide some useful solutions to fixing Disney+ streams from keep buffering. If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will love to help you out.
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
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