You just recorded the perfect moment. Your dog did something hilarious, or maybe you’re at a concert and the vibe is immaculate. You hit upload to Facebook Stories and… nothing. Just a black screen. Or it gets stuck at “finishing up” forever.
Are you kidding me right now!
Or worse, you upload it and the video plays but it’s just a black rectangle with audio. So your friends can hear what’s happening but see absolutely nothing. That’s somehow even more frustrating than it not uploading at all.
I’m not going to lie to you – Facebook Stories are janky as hell and break for the dumbest reasons. Sometimes it’s your phone, sometimes it’s the app, sometimes Facebook’s servers are just having a bad day.
WHY YOUR STORY IS STUCK OR BLACK
So there’s usually a specific reason this happens even though Facebook won’t tell you what it is. They just leave you sitting there watching that loading circle spin forever or staring at a black screen wondering what you did wrong.
Your internet is being trash – If your connection drops while uploading or if you’re on slow Wi-Fi that keeps cutting out, the upload fails. Sometimes it fails silently and just shows black. Sometimes it gets stuck at 99% forever. Either way your story isn’t going anywhere.
The app is glitching out – Facebook updates constantly and sometimes those updates break things. Or old cached data gets corrupted. Or the app just decides today’s not the day it wants to work properly. Technology is great like that.
Your phone storage is full – If you have like 47MB of space left on your phone, Facebook can’t process the story properly. It needs temporary space to compress and upload the video. No space equals no story.
This is exhausting…
Facebook’s servers are down – Sometimes it’s not you at all. Facebook’s systems go down or have issues and suddenly nobody can upload stories. You’re just sitting there thinking you broke something when really Facebook broke itself.
The Black Screen Thing Specifically
When your story uploads but shows as a black screen with audio, that’s usually a codec or format problem. Your phone recorded the video in a format Facebook doesn’t like or can’t process correctly. iPhones and Android phones use different video codecs and Facebook is pickier about some than others.
Or your video editing app exported it in some weird format. Or the file got corrupted when transferring it. Whatever the reason, Facebook sees the file, knows it’s a video, but can’t actually display it properly so you just get black nothingness.So annoying I swear…
Fix The Internet First
Before you do anything complicated, check if your internet is actually working. Open Safari or Chrome and try loading a website. If it’s slow or not loading at all, that’s your problem right there.
Turn on Airplane Mode for like 10 seconds then turn it back off. This forces your phone to reconnect to Wi-Fi or cellular and sometimes that’s all it takes. Sounds dumb but it works more often than it should.If you’re on Wi-Fi and it’s being slow, switch to cellular data and try uploading again. Or if you’re on cellular, try connecting to Wi-Fi. Sometimes one works when the other doesn’t and you’ll never know why.
Just try it!
Restart The Facebook App
Don’t just close it – actually force quit the app. On iPhone swipe up from the bottom and swipe the Facebook card off the screen. On Android go to recent apps and swipe it away or force stop it in settings.
Then open Facebook again and try uploading your story. A fresh start clears out any temporary glitches that might be causing the upload to fail or the black screen issue.CLEAR THE CACHE AND DATA
Facebook collects a ton of cached files over time and sometimes those files get corrupted and start causing problems. Clearing them out can fix upload issues and black screen problems.
Android people – go to Settings then Apps then Facebook. Tap Storage and hit Clear Cache. If that doesn’t work, also tap Clear Data but know that you’ll have to log back in after.
iPhone users – Apple doesn’t let you clear cache directly because apparently we’re too dumb to handle it. Your option is to delete the Facebook app completely and reinstall it from the App Store. Pain in the ass but it works. Check out Facebook’s help guide if you need specific steps.
Why is this necessary though…
Update Everything
Old app versions have bugs. Old phone software has bugs. Bugs cause stories to fail or show black screens. So update both.
Go to the App Store or Play Store and search for Facebook. If there’s an Update button, tap it. Let it download and install. Then check your phone’s system updates too – Settings then System Update or Software Update depending on your phone. And if you’re dealing with other Facebook problems like videos not playing or photo upload errors, those might be connected to the same outdated app issues.Check Your Storage Space
If your phone is almost full, Facebook literally cannot process your story. It needs temporary space to work with.
Go to your phone settings and check storage. If you’re under 1GB of free space, that’s probably your problem. Delete some old photos, uninstall apps you don’t use, clear out your downloads folder. Give your phone room to breathe.
So much cleanup ugh…
Once you free up some space, try uploading your story again. Might work perfectly now that Facebook has room to actually do its job.The Video Format Problem
If you’re getting black screens specifically, try re-recording the video or exporting it in a different format. Facebook officially supports MP4 and MOV files with H.264 codec. Anything weirder than that might cause issues.
Some video editing apps export in formats Facebook doesn’t like. If you edited your video before uploading, try exporting it as MP4 with H.264 encoding. Or just upload the original unedited video from your camera roll and see if that works better.Reinstall Facebook Completely
If nothing else worked, nuclear option time. Delete Facebook entirely from your phone and reinstall it fresh from the app store.
This wipes out all the app data, all the cached files, all the weird glitches that built up over time. You get a completely clean installation. Yeah you have to log back in and set up your preferences again but if it fixes your stories it’s worth it.
On iPhone – long press the Facebook icon, tap Remove App, confirm deletion. Then go to App Store and download it again.
On Android – Settings then Apps then Facebook then Uninstall. After it’s gone, open Play Store and reinstall.
This better work now…
When It’s Actually Facebook’s Fault
Sometimes the problem isn’t on your end at all. Facebook’s servers go down or have issues and suddenly stories stop working for everyone. There’s nothing you can do except wait for Facebook to fix their systems.
You can check if Facebook is down by searching “is Facebook down” and looking at sites like Downdetector. If there’s a huge spike in reports from the last hour or two, it’s a server issue. Just wait it out. Usually gets fixed within a few hours.VPN Might Be Blocking It
If you use a VPN, that could be interfering with Facebook’s upload process. Some VPNs slow down your connection or have IP addresses that Facebook doesn’t trust.
Try disconnecting your VPN temporarily and uploading your story without it. If that works, your VPN was the problem. You can either keep it off when uploading stories or switch to a different VPN service that plays nicer with Facebook.Another setting to mess with…
Data Saver Mode Is Ruining Everything
If you have Data Saver mode enabled in Facebook, it might be blocking your story uploads to save bandwidth. Which defeats the whole purpose of having stories but whatever.
Open Facebook, go to Menu then Settings & Privacy then Settings. Look for Mobile Data Usage or Data Saver and make sure it’s turned off. Then try uploading your story again.Check App Permissions
Facebook needs permission to access your camera and storage to upload stories. If you accidentally denied those permissions at some point, stories won’t work properly.
iPhone – go to Settings then scroll to Facebook. Make sure Camera and Photos are both enabled.
Android – Settings then Apps then Facebook then Permissions. Enable Camera and Storage.
Without these permissions Facebook literally cannot access your videos to upload them. Simple fix that solves the problem immediately if this is what’s wrong.Try Uploading From Desktop
If your phone keeps failing, try uploading your story from a computer instead. Go to Facebook.com, log in, and create your story from there.
Sometimes what doesn’t work on mobile works fine on desktop. No idea why. Facebook’s systems are just weird like that. At least you’ll get your story posted even if you have to use a different device to do it.Here’s What Actually Matters
Facebook Stories failing to upload or showing black screens is usually fixable with basic troubleshooting. Check your internet, restart the app, clear cache, update everything. Those steps solve it most of the time.
The black screen thing specifically is often a video format issue. Re-export your video as MP4 with H.264 codec or just use the unedited original from your camera roll.Can’t believe I have to deal with this…
And if none of that works? It might be Facebook’s servers having issues. Check Downdetector, see if other people are reporting problems, and just wait it out if that’s the case.When Nothing Works
If you tried literally everything and stories still won’t upload or keep showing black, you can report the problem to Facebook through the app. Menu then Help & Support then Report a Problem. Describe what’s happening and attach a screenshot.
Will Facebook actually fix it? Who knows. Their support is basically nonexistent for regular users. But at least you reported it and maybe if enough people complain they’ll look into it.Not holding my breath…
Stories are supposed to be this quick easy way to share moments and instead you’re troubleshooting for 20 minutes just to get a 15-second video to upload. But hey, at least one of these fixes probably worked and you can finally post that content you recorded an hour ago.
If this guide helped you fix your Facebook Stories problem, share it with anyone else dealing with upload failures and black screens!