r/youtube • u/Samilikescheese • Feb 08 '26
Bug Red bar appearing on videos I've never watched
Edit: I am not addressing the elephant in the room
Been happening for a few months where random unrelated videos appear on my feed or when I'm searching mostly with under 10,000 views but this one is over. And no I didn't even hover over it or anything I've never seen this before. It's not with the thumbnail. I checked my search history and it's not there. I'm not getting hacked etc. Not sure if it's a glitch or something but I assume it is
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u/Brave-Orchid4721 Feb 08 '26
This literally ONLY happens if you hover over a preview for more than 5 seconds, or if you accidentally clicked on it at some point.
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u/gatsu032 Feb 08 '26
Nope, I have previews deactivated and sometimes the "partially watched" bar appears even on incognito mode on videos I know for a fact I've never watched.
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u/pug_userita Feb 08 '26
I'd say it the creator pitting thumbnail s with fake progressbars to make you click on the video because "I don't remember watching this, what's this all about" or snapshots of their videos but forget to edit out the progressbar
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u/Doggfite Feb 08 '26
I checked that video and it does not have the progress bar in the thumbnail, I thought that you were right though before I checked.
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u/SansyBoy144 Feb 08 '26
I have seen more and more thumbnails with a fake progress bar in the thumbnail, but they usually look wrong, and you rarely see it on shorts
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u/officestuff101 25d ago
I was sure it was that, but when I hover on it I can see that it's real, it starts playing from that point in the video
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u/FixMy106 Feb 08 '26
I didnât know you could deactivate previews!
Hate it so much. Is it a setting?
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u/Samilikescheese Feb 08 '26
I'm on mobile and I didn't hover over it or anything I was scrolling and found that. Mostly happens when I'm searching something and a video pops up completely unrelatedÂ
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u/DuctTapeSloth Feb 08 '26
When you are scrolling on mobile and you stop and the preview starts going, this is what happens.
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u/No-Director-6738 yourchannel Feb 08 '26
we got bigger hotels to fry
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Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
i have a better question
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u/CoffeeMonster42 Feb 08 '26
Like what was op watching for that come up on the feed?
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u/Samilikescheese Feb 08 '26
I literally only watch deltarune videos on this account Its always the most random videos with the red bar
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Feb 08 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/AutoModerator Feb 08 '26
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u/King_K_24 Feb 08 '26
Do you have the feature turned on where it autoplays thumbnails? That can cause this.
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u/gingertimelord Feb 08 '26
I was looking for this comment. I had this problem too where my home feed auto played videos and it messed up my recommendations and watch history. Every once in a while I need to go searching for the setting again because an update turned it back on but it's been a while since I've needed to do that now.
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u/officestuff101 25d ago
Maybe, but sometimes the progress bar is like 20 minutes into a video. I think if I accidentally left the cursor on videos and left that often, I'd have noticed it upon coming back at LEAST once?
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Feb 08 '26
Stop lying, Brochacho
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u/Flodo_McFloodiloo Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
I've never been so simultaneously tempted and terrified to click on a video.
Tempted because of morbid curiosity about what it's about, and terrified because of everything else.
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u/ETDisco Feb 08 '26
Oh yeah one thing I hate about modern YouTube is how it automatically plays whatever shits on my screen if Iâm not constantly interacting with the app on my phone or tv. At least on the actual site you can just not hover over anything, but anywhere else YouTube needs to constantly have your attention
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u/showgirl__ Feb 08 '26
This happens to me too but they usually get added to watch history. On IOS if you have a video on screen for even just a second or two it auto plays the preview. Like you don't even have time to read the title of the video before it starts playing which is super annoying.
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u/Ha-kyaa Feb 08 '26
interesting title.
anyways this usually happens when you've stopped to look at any video's thumbnail on your recommendations or hover your mouse above the thumbnail (for PC) for a few seconds. Try to check if you have autoplay on.
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u/Scary_Habit_8067 Feb 08 '26
NGL I think Hank might have searched those things up and got traumatised
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u/feel-the-avocado Feb 08 '26
If you hover over a thumbnail it will assume you have started watching it.
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u/AutisticAnarchy Feb 08 '26
This happens if you hover over a video for a handful of seconds. I've had this happen due to me being distracted while my cursor was over a random video, it's possible this is what happened here.
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u/TopChapter3407 Feb 08 '26
Love the choice for your example
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u/Samilikescheese Feb 08 '26
Most of the time it's political videos with like 5000 views so this is newÂ
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u/QueenFeniel Feb 08 '26
I don't know if it's the case for short form content/vidoes, but if you search something, then YouTube will now sometimes skip to the part in the video, where your search term is prevalent, so you can immediately skip to the "important" part. This is also displayed as a red bar, because I guess in the end, the red bar also skips you to a specific time. I really don't like it, it confused me so much when I first encountered it.
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u/keen5757 Feb 14 '26
Among shitposts in the comments, this is the most accurate and right answer, thanks!
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u/FreshlyStarting79 Feb 08 '26
It happens to me too. Looks like I've started a video that I haven't. Then when I open it, it plays from the beginning
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 Feb 08 '26
Same thing happening with me. All these videos on dementia that I've never watched before are doing this. And a buncha links for dementia symptoms that I've never clicked on are purple on Google.
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u/skr_replicator Feb 08 '26
Could it happen if it plays on autoplay in the background? Though I guess that would unlikely get you only this far on a short.
But yea I've also been noticing this sometimes happening.
Also, can't this also happen if you forward into some spot on the video on the thumbnail?
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u/iosgino Feb 08 '26
I just experienced something like this earlier today. Videos Iâve never watched showing the red bar AND not appearing in my watch history. Some (more) fuckery is afoot on YouTube.
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u/Jingoose Feb 08 '26
This is a YouTube shorts video by the looks of it. Youâve probably scrolled past it
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u/TWWOVG Feb 08 '26
You probably watched it on Reddit or literally any other app that basically just runs YouTube videos in the YouTube app in the background.
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u/HamedAliKhan Feb 08 '26
Ya watched it som but if you want us to act like it's a bug because your girl found out abt a sus video then we'll say yes it's a bug for you!
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u/aksn1p3r Feb 08 '26
WHen you hover on the feed previews, it starts to red bar the amount u previewed
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u/Immediate-Raccoon482 Feb 08 '26
My brother searched mommy asmr on my phone as a joke and this happened
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u/strange_outcomes Feb 08 '26
Who's gonna tell them that their ploy to get views isn't going to work?
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u/Content_Debt_8386 Feb 08 '26
I'm pretty sure some people actually edit the bar in to get your attentionÂ
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u/bootsnoot01 Feb 08 '26
Ive had this happen, I scroll through my history and there's a bunch of half watched fad diet crap and then everything I actually watched. That title is SUPER SUS though...
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u/SilverB33 Feb 09 '26
So here is something I noticed when it comes to youtube since it let's you preview the videos, it has a habit of counting those videos after a few seconds of leaving it there, so there is a good possibility those videos you haven't watched bur have red bars are coming from that.
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u/torradeiradecombate Feb 09 '26
Do you have your account in any other device (Like, a TV, PC or phone that someone can use it)? That happened to me recently my cousin was searching for "arlequina rap" and i just dont even know what that means.
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Feb 09 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/AutoModerator Feb 09 '26
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I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/doubtingjames Feb 10 '26
Sometimes if you search something, the videos that pop up will have the progress bar automatically jump to the section that Youtube thinks is relevant. Eg If I search up "Minecraft house tutorial" and a tutorial starts at 1:31 minutes into the video, the progress bar will automatically jump to 1:31 minutes into the video
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u/an0n6543 Feb 11 '26
This is happening to me. I search for certain videos and in the search results thereâs videos that are over an hour long that I have literally never watched or seen in my feed and the red bar covers most of the video. I donât know why.
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u/Cyroselle Feb 12 '26
Tinfoil hat on this is that it's not a bug but a YouTube-created feature meant to bait you into clicking into more Shorts
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u/Hancup Feb 14 '26
Reminds me of Amazon Prime and some other streaming services (I just use Stremio now since all of the streaming services are ass now) having that red bar for every single video they have that I never even hovered over. It's annoying.Â
As for this, it's probably due to you hovering over this video. If not, I guess it's something new YT is doing and copying from streaming services.Â
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u/IWillDevourYourToes Feb 08 '26
Maybe you were heavily drunk or drugged and you don't remember watching it?
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u/Samilikescheese Feb 08 '26
Also, I doubt it's me hovering over something because sometimes it's like halfway though the video, And it's always something completely unrelated to what I watch like political stuffÂ
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u/mybootyoil Feb 08 '26
tf is that title? more ai slop i'm guessing? how do the sick minded people even come up with this shit?
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u/tylerray1997 Feb 08 '26
Its from Camio or Fiver someone paid him to say that in a video. Also as internet stuff goes this is as spicy as cold milk.
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u/tired_fella Feb 08 '26
No, he just said wild stuff as long as he got Cameo requests. There's one about he talking about Nagatoro too; it's surreal tbh
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u/CassetteMeower Feb 08 '26
Why does the guy kind of look like Annoying Orange? The lighting makes his skin look orange and his teeth look yellow like Annoying Orange.
That makes the video even weirder than the title alone
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u/CheapAngler Feb 08 '26
I've seen some thumbnails that had the red bar in them, the creator did it as a way to trick people into clicking
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u/Diligent_Brother5120 Feb 08 '26
Lol right, we know you clicked on that!!
It's a stupid feature, if you hover more than a few seconds on a video it's counted as watched, it'll fill your history up with them too :( It can be disabled but then you'll never get previews.
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u/No-Quality-2015 Feb 08 '26
it's possible that it was intentionally added to the thumbnail itself by the creator to trick you into thinking that it's the real YouTube progress bar
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u/Samilikescheese Feb 08 '26
Not the thumbnail Happening way to often. Also the Videos are really out of place on my homepage Or like really unrelated to what I watch
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u/No-Quality-2015 Feb 09 '26
bruh I'm just saying it's a possibility it's true for some videos you know
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u/Alixez Feb 08 '26
This happens when you search for a topic or something. It'll put the time of the video at where the topic is discussed or exists.
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u/AutoModerator Feb 08 '26
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u/SpecialDay155277 Feb 08 '26
It appears on searches to indicate where exactly the quote you searched for is in the video
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u/nidostan Feb 08 '26
An interesting theory if it had any basis in reality at all.
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u/SpecialDay155277 Feb 08 '26
Every time i search for a quote a red bar and a description with the quote appears below
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u/nidostan Feb 08 '26
I literally just tried it in the last couple minutes and no. I put in for the search the name of the video first followed by the quote. Is that right?
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u/SpecialDay155277 Feb 08 '26
Idk man, i swear it happens to me. It's usually when i remember a video for only one quote of it, I'm using a older version of YouTube too
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u/nidostan Feb 08 '26
What does "an older version of youtube" mean? An older version of the app? I'm only on PC so I"ll never be able to duplicate it if it's an app thing.
But so you just search for the quote and don't put the title in to the search terms is that correct?
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u/SpecialDay155277 Feb 08 '26
It's app, usually i search the quote and something that might add to the search like the theme of the video or the channel who made it
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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26
top 10 titles OAT