YouTube looking into issue with adding audio tracks to Shorts videos on Android and iOS

YouTube creators attempting to spice up their Shorts with audio tracks are hitting a wall. The platform confirmed it’s aware of an ongoing problem that’s stopping users from adding music to their short-form videos, and they’re working on a fix.

A Google employee posted an update on the YouTube support forum roughly 10 hours ago, acknowledging the frustration creators have been experiencing.

The problem appears differently depending on what device you’re using. iPhone users get hit with an “Unable to load audio track” message when they try to add sound, while Android users see a generic “Something went wrong” error pop up. Either way, the result is the same: no audio gets added to the video.

The issue has been building up steam for about a week now, with creators taking to Reddit and Google’s support forums to share their experiences.

Over 5,000 people have already indicated they’re facing the same problem, which suggests this isn’t just affecting a small group of users. Some creators initially thought their accounts had been flagged or restricted, especially those who had previous copyright strikes. But it turns out the bug is hitting accounts across the board, regardless of their history.

The worst part about this bug for creators is that audio plays a huge role in Shorts performance. The format relies heavily on trending sounds and music to grab attention and boost reach. Without the ability to add tracks from YouTube’s library, creators are stuck either uploading videos with no music or finding workarounds that eat up extra time.

Speaking of workarounds, some resourceful users on Reddit discovered a temporary solution. By giving manager permissions to another Google account and uploading through that secondary account, they’ve been able to add audio successfully. It’s not ideal, but it gets the job done while YouTube sorts things out.

YouTube hasn’t provided a timeline for when the fix will roll out, but the fact that they’ve acknowledged the problem and assigned it to their team is a good sign. Creators will just need to hang tight for now.

This isn’t the only issue YouTube users have dealt with recently. The platform has also been struggling with videos appearing too dark on Android devices, while iOS users have reported problems with the share function breaking in YouTube Music. Additionally, YouTube recently removed search filters from the iOS app, causing frustration among users trying to refine their search results. Meanwhile, a new UI update has been kicking up debate among the community about interface changes.

We stand out from the tech-media crowd because we break news stories; we mainly bring you stuff that you won’t find anywhere in the mainstream tech media. Our stories have been picked up by some of the world’s most popular websites and media outlets—more info is available here.