How to Fix WhatsApp Showing Only YouTube Logo Instead of Thumbnails
If you’ve been sharing YouTube videos on WhatsApp and noticed that instead of the actual video thumbnail, only the generic YouTube logo appears, you’re not alone. This issue has been frustrating many users recently. Fortunately, after some digging, I found a simple fix for this problem — and it has to do with your VPN.
Why Does This Happen?
WhatsApp generates link previews (like titles, thumbnails, and descriptions) by fetching metadata from the shared link. When a VPN is enabled, especially if it routes traffic through certain regions or blocks WhatsApp’s preview requests, WhatsApp may fail to fetch the YouTube thumbnail properly. As a result, you only see the generic YouTube logo instead of the correct video thumbnail.
The Fix: Exclude WhatsApp From Your VPN
- Open Your VPN App Settings
Most VPN apps have a feature called split tunneling or app exclusion. This lets you choose which apps should bypass the VPN. - Find WhatsApp in the List of Apps
Look for WhatsApp in the app management settings of your VPN. - Exclude WhatsApp from VPN Routing
Enable split tunneling for WhatsApp or mark it as an app that should connect directly to the internet without VPN. - Restart WhatsApp
Close WhatsApp completely and reopen it. Share a YouTube link again — the proper video thumbnail should now appear instead of just the logo.
Additional Notes
- This issue mainly affects users who always keep their VPN active. Without VPN, WhatsApp can usually fetch YouTube previews without problems.
- If your VPN doesn’t support split tunneling, you may need to temporarily disconnect it when sharing YouTube links on WhatsApp.
- The issue is not caused by WhatsApp or YouTube directly but by how the VPN handles metadata fetching requests.