⚡ Quick answer: A completely black screen with no audio usually means the app or stream failed to load at all — different from audio playing with no picture, where the connection succeeded but only the video track failed. Restarting the app is the first fix to try.
Telling these two symptoms apart matters, because they point to different causes. If you hear sound but see nothing, that's a different problem — see our audio-but-no-picture guide instead. This page covers a genuinely black screen: no picture and no sound.
Common Causes
- The app or stream failed to load entirely — most common cause
- An unsupported stream format for that specific channel
- A corrupted app cache
- An expired subscription showing black instead of a clear error
- A brief server-side issue on the stream source
Step-by-Step Fixes
- Restart the app completely, then restart the device
- Test a different channel to see if it's isolated to one stream
- Clear the app's cache in your device settings
- Confirm your subscription is active
- Try a different player app to rule out an app-specific issue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is black screen the same as audio-but-no-picture?
No — a full black screen with no sound at all points to the stream or app failing to load entirely, while audio-with-no-picture means the stream connected but the video track specifically isn't rendering.
What's the first thing to try?
Restart the app completely, then restart the device — this resolves a large share of one-off black-screen cases.
Could it be the channel itself?
Yes — test a different channel to confirm whether it's isolated to one stream source rather than the app or device.
We'll help you narrow down the cause
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