Being one of the biggest names in the Social Media scene, Pinterest is a safe haven for all who may have something creative to share with the world.
But with over 463 million concurrent users across Android, iOS, and the website, the image-sharing service is bound to have a couple of issues.
In this post, I’ll help you troubleshoot and fix 7 common Pinterest not working issues.
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1 Pinterest Notifications Not Working
One of the most prominent issues known to occur in the Pinterest app is that sometimes the notifications system tends to fail.
Here are a few reasons why this issue may occur on your device:
You May Have Turned Off Notifications For Pinterest On Accident
When you download any app for the first time your device, let it be Android or iOS, will ask you for a bunch of permissions required to run the app.
Permissions such as Storage, Location, Camera, Microphone, and Notifications!
Sometimes we don’t tend to read all the pop-up prompts that show up when setting up a new app so there is a chance that we accidentally deny permissions such as Notifications, making the app unable to send real-time alerts to you when necessary.
There’s an easy fix for this sort of issue –
How to turn on notifications for Android and iOS
- Step 1: Open the Pinterest app and log into your Pinterest account.
- Step 2: Tap on your profile picture on the bottom-right of your screen.
- Step 3: Tap on the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
- Step 4: Select the Settings option and once inside Tap on ‘Notifications’.
- Step 5: Tap on the notification category you want to change.
- Step 6: Select your preferences for each type of notification. Your changes will be automatically saved.
How to turn on notifications for the Web App
- Step 1: Login and Click on the down chevron icon (v) to open the drop-down menu.
- Step 2: Select the Settings option and once inside click on ‘Notifications’.
- Step 3: Click on the ‘Edit’ option located next to the notification category you want to change.
- Step 4: Select your preferences for each type of notification and click on ‘Save’.
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Your App May Be Outdated
Pinterest notifications might not work if you have an older version, meaning you will have to update the app to its latest version for it to function properly as intended.
The update should fix the issue with the Notifications and any other problems with the app that may have been present.
Pinterest’s Servers May Be Down Or Under Maintenance
Sometimes Pinterest’s servers tend to crash, causing some services within the site like notifications unable to function.
Not only that but sometimes the website goes into downtime to perform routine maintenance to fix any issues present within the site as well.
To check whether the servers are down you can use websites such as Downdetector.
Cache Issues
Cache files are the culprit of many app errors occurring on mobile devices so it’s a good thing to know how to clear them if necessary.
How to clear cache on Android
Step 1: Open the settings app on your Android device.
Step 2: Scroll down to ‘Apps’ (or ‘Applications’ depending on your device) or Search for it in the search bar.
Step 3: Locate Pinterest in the app list and tap on it.
Step 4: Tap on ‘Storage’.
Step 5: Tap on ‘Clear cache’.
Now you can relaunch the Pinterest app and check to see if the notifications work.
2 Idea Pin Not Showing On Pinterest
Idea Pins are a relatively new type of pin to the image-sharing service, mainly used for promoting a product, or business or to grow a following on the platform.
You don’t require a business account to use Idea Pins but begrudgingly you will need to be a part of a short list of eligible countries in order to access them.
This list includes – The US, The UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. There haven’t been any recent announcements made regarding the addition of more countries to the list.
The only “fix” for this would be to go here, but this isn’t guaranteed to work.
3 Pinterest Home Feed Tuner Not Working
The Home Feed Tuner was introduced in order to help users clean up their feed, delete old boards and unfollow any creators they may not want to follow anymore
But ever since its release the feature has been broken to the point where there are no visible changes that occur in the Home Feed.
Pinterest still hasn’t come out with an update or a statement regarding the uncooperative Home Feed Tuner so all we can do is wait and see what becomes of the matter.
4 Pinterest Search Bar Not Working
Multiple Pinterest users on Reddit and blog posts have recently vented their frustrations regarding an unresponsive search bar within the app and web.
The users say that no results whatsoever are visible upon typing something in the search bar, meaning no auto-fill searches appear and the search button is completely unresponsive.
There are a few ways to try remedying this issue –
Outdated App
The Search Bar tends to not appear at all within the app due to the app installed on your device being an older version, meaning you will have to update the app to its latest version for it to function properly as intended.
Cache Issues
Sometimes the cache and cookies stored on a browser tend to make some websites unresponsive, so clearing it once in a while may help restore the website’s functionality.
Same goes for the app cache as well.
How To Clear Cache And Cookies On Chrome
Step 1: Click on the three-dot menu on the top-right corner of the screen and select ‘more tools’.
Step 2: Within more tools click on ‘Clear browsing data’.
Step 3: In the pop-up window, switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab and set the ‘Time Range’ to ‘All Time’.
Step 4: Click on the check boxes of all the following – Browsing History, Download History, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files.
Step 5: Click on the ‘Clear data’ button.
Relaunch the browser after the previous steps are completed and check if Pinterest’s search bar is now functional.
5 Pinterest Videos Not Playing On IPad
The reasons why Pinterest videos won’t play on Ipad is because of either internet connection issues or cache related.
You can double-check both and try again. Also, try restarting the IPad and reinstalling Pinterest to see if it fixes it.
6 Pinterest Save Button Not Working
The Save button for Pinterest is a first-party browser extension that allows you to save any image found across the web, but sometimes the extension fails to operate as intended.
Thankfully there are a few ways to fix any issues regarding the extension –
Make Sure You’re Not In Incognito Or Private Browsing Mode
Browsing in incognito/private mode does not save any browser history, meaning the Pinterest Save Button is incapable of operating.
To use the Pinterest Save Button you must log in to your Pinterest account on a regular browser.
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Reinstall The Extension
Deleting and then reinstalling the extension may also fix any problems that may have been present previously as you’re doing a fresh new install.
Enable Javascript
If you use privacy extensions – it might be set to block javascript as well, so check them out too.
Enabling Javascript
Step 1: Click on the three-dot menu on the top-right corner of the screen and select ‘Security and Privacy’.
Step 2: In ‘Security and Privacy’ click on ‘Site settings’.
Step 3: In ‘Site settings’ click on ‘Javascript’ and select ‘Sites can use Javascript’.
On mobile, go to the Advanced section and tap on ‘Site settings’ and tap on ‘Javascript’. Next, tap on the Javascript switch to turn it on (One = Blue, Off = Grey).
Note – The Pinterest Save Button is a browser extension, meaning you do not have the ability to use the extension on the app.
7 Why Am I Not Eligible For Pinterest?
Pinterest’s age restriction guidelines state that they require their users to be over the age of 13 to be eligible for an account.
If you’re under the age of 13 and you make an account with a false age, there is a chance for Pinterest to find out your true age by your account statistics and overall behavior on the service.
If they do find out that you are under the required age to have an account, they are legally able to issue a suspension or permanent ban to your account.
Meaning you will have to be very careful when using the service while being under the required age or just wait a couple of years till you’re legally able to join.
