6 Steps to Try When a Website Doesn’t Load on Android

Article Summary 

• Causes for websites not loading on Android: The main culprits are a weak internet connection, an outdated browser cache, or a DNS issue. Since each one shows the same error message on screen, it’s harder to know where to start fixing the issue.
• Checking your phone’s connection first: Confirm your phone is connected, then test whether other sites open normally. It’s also worth toggling Airplane Mode or restarting your router to resolve a website not loading issue before checking anything else.
• Clearing your browser cache: Outdated or corrupted files stored in Chrome can cause pages to fail even on a reliable connection. So, clearing cached images and files in Chrome’s privacy settings takes under a minute and targets the most common browser-side cause of a website failing to load.
• DNS troubleshooting you can try for Android devices: If the connection on your phone looks fine but specific pages still won’t open, your phone may be failing to locate the website’s address. Switching to Google’s public DNS via Android’s Private DNS settings usually resolves the issue.
• Keeping your browser and Android system updated: Unfortunately, older browser versions or outdated Android software can struggle a little with newer website security requirements. That’s why you must install updates and restart your phone to resolve compatibility-related loading problems.

So you got a message saying the site can’t be reached on Android, and you can’t figure out why. You’re not the only one. In fact, you’re one of many we’ve helped at My Computer Works because this is a fairly common problem. But you don’t have to be too worried if this is an issue plaguing you, because most of the time it’s not serious.

Even if you aren’t overly tech-savvy, you can perform a few targeted checks that will get things working again. And in most situations, you won’t need to sift through every setting on your phone because most Android not loading webpage errors tend to come from one of a handful of sources. 

Unfortunately, the tricky part is that a connection problem, a browser issue, and a DNS failure all show up looking exactly the same. But you have us to help you through this. All you need to do is work through the steps in this guide, which should help you reach the right fix.

What Causes Websites Not to Load on Android?

According to industry stats, about 53% of websites are abandoned if they fail to load within three seconds. So if a website isn’t loading on your Android, it’s bad news for you and for whoever’s business you’ll be avoiding. 

Although you cannot fix their load speeds or issues, you need to determine if your Android is actually the problem. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, what even causes websites not to load on Android? 

Well…the same error message can mean several different things. That’s why these issues are frustrating to troubleshoot without a clear starting point. But here’s our take on why websites don’t load on Androids: 

• A weak or dropped connection is the most common cause. However, a browser holding on to corrupted cached files produces an identical error on screen. And believe it or not, so does a DNS failure, where your phone is technically connected but can’t resolve the website address to a reachable server.
• Security settings also catch many people off guard when they find out they can cause websites not to load. An expired site certificate, a blocked browser permission, or a misconfigured network setting can prevent a page from loading, even when Wi-Fi is connected, and other apps are working fine. 

When you cannot load a website on Android, the steps below (which we’re about to dig our teeth into) work through each cause, from the simplest to the most involved.

How to Fix the “This Site Can’t Be Reached” Error on Android

Now that you know what can cause the problem, fixing it shouldn’t be too difficult an endeavor. These six steps cover the most common solutions and guide you through what to do:

1. Check Your Internet Connection

No, seriously…we mean it. You’ll want to check your internet connection first. It isn’t hard, as you only need to open another website or a different app before fiddling with anything else. If nothing loads, the problem is with the connection, not the specific site you were trying to reach.

But if other webpages open normally, the issue isn’t your internet connection; it could be your phone’s connecting capabilities. It could also be the classic case of switching between wifi and mobile data to do the trick. So: 

• For a connection on your phone that seems inconsistent (constant disconnects and reconnects), toggle Airplane Mode on for about ten seconds and then off again. Toggling Airplane mode on and off forces the phone to drop and reestablish its network connection. This clears minor hiccups that don’t fully cut the signal but are enough to stall page loading. 
• Switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data is worth a try too. If you’re on home Wi-Fi, restarting the router can resolve what may seem like a phone-side problem but is actually coming from the network itself.

If these don’t work, it’s time for step two.

2. Refresh the Page

Wait! Before you move on and act on the urge to change your phone settings, try the simplest fix. This fix is to tap the refresh button and give the page a few seconds to reload. Sometimes pages can get stuck partway through loading without fully failing, and a refresh is often enough to get them through.

However, if it stalls again, close the tab completely. Then open a new one and retype the address from scratch. We know it can be annoying, but a frozen tab behaves differently from a genuine loading failure, and opening a clean tab circumvents that issue.

3. Clear Your Browser Cache

Your browser saves portions of websites locally to speed up repeat visits. Those stored files are usually fine, but they can go into stasis or get corrupted. Usually, when that happens, the browser pulls from the broken local copy instead of loading a fresh version of the page. This situation is when you need to flush your browser cache.

If you’re wondering ‘how do I flush my browser cache?’ On Android, open Chrome and go to Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Clear Browsing Data. After doing this, select Cached Images and Files, tap Clear Data, and leave the passwords and browsing history boxes unchecked since those don’t need to be cleared for this to work. 

Cache issues are responsible for a significant share of “cannot load website” errors that are initially blamed on the connection, so this step is worth taking before assuming the network is the problem.

4. Check if the Website Is Down

“It’s not you, it’s me” really does apply in the case of your website being down. So, if the site you are trying to get to won’t load but everything else on your phone works fine, the issue usually isn’t your Android device. 

The site could be the problem because often sites go offline, become overloaded during high-traffic periods, or encounter server problems that can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on severity.

But we know you don’t have all day. So, before waiting for it to come back online, try opening the same site on a laptop or another phone to see whether it loads there, to confirm the website is actually down. 

In addition, you can use a tool like Down for Everyone, which checks the site from multiple locations and tells you within seconds whether it’s a widespread outage or something specific to your connection. If the site is down across the board, there’s nothing to fix on your end, and trying again later is the only real option.

5. Try DNS Troubleshooting

If your connection is working and the cache is clear, but certain pages still won’t open, you’re likely still wondering ‘why is my Android not loading websites?’ 

Well, now’s the time to check DNS. DNS converts a website address into a server location your Android can connect to. When it’s misconfigured or your carrier’s DNS is having issues, your phone can sit on a working connection and still fail to reach specific sites.

To check DNS on Android, go to Settings, then Network or Connections, then Private DNS. Select Private DNS Provider Hostname and enter dns.google. 

That switches your phone to Google’s public DNS, which runs on 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, and resolves ‘site can’t be reached’ Android errors that stem from carrier DNS problems rather than anything on the device itself. 

If the phone has also been running slower than usual beyond just the browser, some of the same factors that drag down device performance on a laptop apply to Android, too, and may be worth reviewing separately. We can help you with that at My Computer Works.

6. Update Your Browser or Android System

An outdated browser or Android version can cause pages to fail on sites that use newer security protocols, and it rarely shows up as an obvious error. The site just doesn’t load, with no indication that the software version is out of date.

What you should do is check the app store for any pending updates for Chrome or your browser, then go into your Android settings and look for system updates. 

Once anything new is installed, restart the phone, as that clears out temporary processes that were running on the old version. These don’t always stop cleanly after an update, which is what can cause the lingering glitches (like websites not loading) that a software update alone won’t catch. So, don’t forget to restart. 

When It’s Not Your Device: Speak with My Computer Works

If you’ve gone through all six steps and the site still won’t open, the issue is most likely sitting on the website’s end. A server outage, an expired security certificate, or a domain configuration problem can all produce the same Android not loading webpage error as a local connection issue, and none of those have a fix on your side.

Some sites are also unavailable in specific regions, which means no amount of browser or network changes will get them to load. If multiple sites are failing and the steps above haven’t resolved the issue, that’s a different situation. 

This is when the team at My Computer Works can run through the device and network configurations to find what the standard troubleshooting steps didn’t catch. You can speak with our team here to learn what the best next step is for you.