Why is Prime Video not working? How to troubleshoot your Amazon Prime Video app when it won't play properly

If you're having trouble using your Prime Video account, make sure it's active. You can go to your Prime Video account settings page to make sure it's paid and active.

This goes for Amazon Prime in general. If you cancel your Amazon Prime account, or don't pay your bill, you lose access to Prime Video.

Unless you're watching a downloaded video, you need to be connected to the internet in order to watch Prime Video.

Check that your streaming device is connected to the internet, whether that be Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection. If you're sure that it is, reset your internet router and then reconnect.

If Prime Video isn't working on your usual device, try it elsewhere. If it won't run on your smart TV or Roku, for example, open the Prime Video app on your smartphone and try it there, or open Prime Video in a browser on your computer.

If it works on one device but not another, you've narrowed down the problem significantly. Reboot the device that Prime Video isn't running on, and try again.

If you've narrowed the problem down to a particular device, restarting the device can solve all sorts of issues.

If that doesn't work, uninstall the Prime Video app and then reinstall it. You'll probably need to log into Prime Video again after you do this.

It's possible that your internet connection is being taken up by other data — if you're downloading a large file, for example, or other people are gaming on the same Wi-Fi network, you could be starving Prime Video of essential bandwidth.

To check, stop any other internet activity and try using Prime Video again. If you're using Wi-Fi, you might also want to move your streaming device and internet router closer together.

Also, turn off any network tools you don't need, like a VPN, to make sure they aren't slowing down your connection.

It's rare, but if you're having trouble watching Prime Video on a device that connects to your display via an HDMI cable, it's possible the HDMI cable isn't new enough or compliant.

If you're watching HD content, the cable needs to be rated at least HDCP 1.4, and if you're watching 4K content, you'll need an HDCP 2.2 HDMI cable.

Unfortunately, unless you still have the package your cable came in, or its order details if you got it online, there usually isn't any way to tell what type of cable you have. Check to see if anything is written on the cable itself — if there isn't, you may be out of luck.

If your cable is outdated, buy a newer one.

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