[YouTube] Videos are not playing, takes time to load then it says network error

[quadroli]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Affected version

0.28.0

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Open new pipe
2. Go to history
3. Click on a video

alternatively:

1. Open new pipe
2. Search for a video

Expected behavior

Videos should play,
Search results should be displayed

Actual behavior

Search results do not get returned
Videos fail to play

Screenshots/Screen recordings

This is the default behaviour before connecting to a VPN:

Record_2025-12-22-10-02-40_ee8807d2de22f1831269d80920e33a3b.mp4

This is the behaviour after connecting to a VPN:

Record_2025-12-22-10-04-17_ee8807d2de22f1831269d80920e33a3b.mp4

Hence I have reason to believe this is Youtube's meddling

Logs

This is the log for when it reports content unavailable after connecting to a VPN:

org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.exceptions.ContentNotAvailableException: Video unavailable
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.checkPlayabilityStatus(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:894)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.fetchHtml5Client(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:935)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.services.youtube.extractors.YoutubeStreamExtractor.onFetchPage(YoutubeStreamExtractor.java:823)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.Extractor.fetchPage(Extractor.java:60)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:77)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.extractor.stream.StreamInfo.getInfo(StreamInfo.java:72)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.lambda$getStreamInfo$3(ExtractorHelper.java:118)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper.$r8$lambda$bVfA-5gb6gDc8jcAgcGWG5oH0FE(ExtractorHelper.java:0)
	at org.schabi.newpipe.util.ExtractorHelper$$ExternalSyntheticLambda3.call(R8$$SyntheticClass:0)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleFromCallable.subscribeActual(SingleFromCallable.java:43)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleDoOnSuccess.subscribeActual(SingleDoOnSuccess.java:35)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeFromSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeFromSingle.java:41)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.drain(MaybeConcatArray.java:153)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray$ConcatMaybeObserver.request(MaybeConcatArray.java:78)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe$ElementAtSubscriber.onSubscribe(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:66)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeConcatArray.subscribeActual(MaybeConcatArray.java:42)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Flowable.subscribe(Flowable.java:16144)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.flowable.FlowableElementAtMaybe.subscribeActual(FlowableElementAtMaybe.java:36)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Maybe.subscribe(Maybe.java:5377)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.maybe.MaybeToSingle.subscribeActual(MaybeToSingle.java:46)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Single.subscribe(Single.java:4855)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.operators.single.SingleSubscribeOn$SubscribeOnObserver.run(SingleSubscribeOn.java:89)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.core.Scheduler$DisposeTask.run(Scheduler.java:644)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.run(ScheduledRunnable.java:65)
	at io.reactivex.rxjava3.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.call(ScheduledRunnable.java:56)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:317)
	at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:348)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1156)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:651)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1119)
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My content country is: KE

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

Android 15

Affected device model

Oppo A3X

Additional information

I wonder if me turning on location services after a while may have something to do with it.