YouTube App Bug Forces Auto-Play of Shorts; Here’s the Quick Fix

A bug affecting the YouTube app is causing some users to encounter an unexpected behavior where the Shorts video feature opens and auto-plays by default when launching the app, regardless of what was last viewed. This issue has been observed on Android devices such as the Nothing Phone (3a) and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The problem appears to be triggered by having visited Shorts previously, and it persists across sessions even after closing or force-stopping the app. Clearing storage/cache temporarily resolves the issue, but it returns once Shorts is opened again. There are increasing reports of this behavior on Reddit over the last couple of weeks, indicating a growing number of affected users.