Tapo Camera 'Loading Failed' on Live View — Fix

What it means

When Tapo live view sits on 'Loading...' forever or says 'Loading failed, please try again', the app couldn't pull a stream from the camera in time.
Live view is the most bandwidth-hungry thing the camera does, so it's the first to break when Wi-Fi at the camera is weak, your internet upload is slow, or your phone's connection is poor.
The camera can still be recording motion clips fine even while live view fails.

Affected Models

Tapo C100, C110, C120
Tapo C200, C210, C220 (pan/tilt)
Tapo C310, C320WS, C325WB (outdoor)
Tapo C420, C425 (battery)
Tapo TC65, TC70, TC71

Common Causes

Weak Wi-Fi where the camera is mounted
Slow internet upload speed at the property (live view streams out from the camera)
Your phone on a poor mobile or Wi-Fi connection
Camera set to a high stream quality the connection can't sustain
Camera needs a power-cycle after a glitch
Several people or apps streaming the camera at once

How to Fix It

Switch streams or refresh.

Tap the HD/SD toggle on the live-view screen to drop to the lower-bandwidth stream, then try again.
A standard-quality stream loads far more reliably over a marginal connection.
Also pull down to refresh the app and re-open the camera.
Test your phone's connection.

Switch your phone between Wi-Fi and mobile data and try live view again.
If it loads on one and not the other, the bottleneck was your phone's connection, not the camera.
Power-cycle the camera.

Unplug the camera (or pull the battery on a C420/C425) for ten seconds and power it back up.
Let it boot and reconnect, then retry live view.
Improve Wi-Fi at the camera.

Check the camera's Wi-Fi signal in its settings.
If it's weak, move the router closer, add a mesh node or extender near the camera, or relocate the camera — and make sure your router's 2.4 GHz band, which Tapo cameras use, is healthy.
Check your upload speed.

Live view streams out of your house, so it leans on upload, not download.
Run a speed test; if upload is very low (well under a few Mbps) or you have many cameras, live view will struggle.
Lower the stream quality on the cameras and avoid multiple simultaneous viewers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Tapo recording work but live view won't load?

Recording and live view put very different demands on your connection.
Motion clips are written to the SD card or uploaded in the background and can tolerate a slow link; live view needs a steady real-time stream out of your house right now, so it breaks first when Wi-Fi at the camera is weak or your upload speed is low.
Drop the live-view stream to standard quality and improve the Wi-Fi at the camera, and it usually steadies up.