Why is Gfycat Not Working?

Gfycat is one of the most popular hosting platforms for user-generated content. It’s easy to use, free to join, and it has a large community. For some, it is the go-to choice for creating quick gifs, amassing a large following, and entertaining others with everyday memes or funny NSFW content.

That said, Gfycat has no shortage of issues when it comes to bugs like inaccessible links, frozen uploads, missing gifs, etc. Here are some of the problems you may encounter if you’re a Gfycat user.

Website Down and Broken Links

If the website is down, it may be because of a power outage or because of the overloaded servers. At the same time, the issue may be on your end. You can try any of the following fixes:

Refresh the Website Multiple Times

Refreshing a website is a common fix for many browser issues. In the case of Gfycat, however, it may not always be enough. But, you could try refreshing the dead gif links until the video loads up properly.

You may also want to clear your local DNS cache. It is the place where all visited IP addresses are saved. After a while, it may be difficult to establish a connection to a website if you have too many addresses on the list.

Another reason is that some IP addresses get saved even if they have bad connections. To avoid sifting through too many bad results, you may want to clear the local DNS cache. Do this regardless of the OS you’re using.

Clear Your Local DNS Cache – Windows

Open Start menu.
Click Run.
Type cmd and enter the Command Prompt.
Type “ipconfig /flushdns”.
Press Enter.
Wait for the process to finish and retry the website.

Clear Your Local DNS Cache – macOS

Go to Applications.
Go to Utilities.
Access the Terminal.
Type “dscacheutil –flushcache”.
Press Enter.
Type “sudo killall –HUP mDNSResponder”.
Press Enter.

Clear Cache and Cookies in Your Browser

Here’s how to clear cached data in Chrome. There are three ways of reaching the menu you need.

Launch Chrome. Press Ctrl + H, and click on the “Clear Browsing Data” button located on the left part of the screen. Clear cached images, files, and cookies for the period you want.
Launch Chrome. Press Ctrl + Shift + Del. This brings up the same Clear browsing data menu.
Open Chrome. Click the Settings icon. Highlight the “More” icon and select “Clear browsing data.”

Either method will take you to the same menu. After clearing browser cache, retry accessing the Gfycat website as well as gif links that were previously not loading.

How to Ask for Information

If you’re experiencing issues with Gfycat you can always check to see if other users have reported similar incidents. One of the places where you can check for information is the Gfycat Twitter help page. There, developers tweet about current issues, estimated patching times, and other useful information.

The official Gfycat Twitter page won’t offer this kind of information. Another place you might want to check out is Reddit. There are hundreds of threads regarding current and past Gfycat issues, so there’s a good chance you’ll find some useful info there.

Various home fixes are available if you have some research skills. What’s even better is that even Gfycat developers have a strong online presence on Reddit and they take time to read, respond, and encourage more users to post problems they encounter.

The Gfycat support page also offers some general answers regarding common issues. But, for the most part, you can use the support page to ask for a fix or inquire about any incompatibilities between your system and the Gfycat platform.

Gfycat – A Work in Progress

It’s been a few years since Gfycat launched. It amassed tons of users over time. That being said, the platform is still very much a work in progress. It still has more downtime than the top short video hosting platforms and its users often run into annoying little bugs when trying to access gifs uploaded to the platform.

But, the dev team is slowly improving the platform, meaning the future will surely be brighter for Gfycat and its users. Let us know if these fixes have helped you now or in the past. Also, feel free to post other solutions you’ve come up with.