My stream won't start on a platform

If you went live in ApexStream but a platform like YouTube or Facebook shows nothing on their end, work through this checklist in order — one of these is almost always the cause.

Check these, in order

1. Is that destination actually switched on? Open the Connected Channels panel in Web Studio (or the Integrations page) and confirm the platform's toggle is on. ApexStream only sends your stream to destinations enabled for that broadcast.
2. Are you over your plan's live-destination limit? Free allows 2 live destinations at once, Hobby 3, Creator 5, Scale 8, and Enterprise 50. If you've already hit your cap, turn another destination off before enabling a new one.
3. Is the platform itself ready to receive a live stream? Some platforms need live streaming turned on, on their own side, before ApexStream can start a broadcast there. YouTube is the clearest example — if your channel isn't enabled for live streaming yet, ApexStream has no channel to stream to.
4. Has your connection to that platform expired? Platform sign-ins can expire or get revoked over time. Go to Integrations and look for a disconnected or "reconnect" state on that platform, and reconnect if you see one.
5. Is your stream over a quality limit? Every plan has a maximum bitrate and resolution. If your broadcast is sending a higher quality than your plan allows — or higher than a specific destination accepts — that destination can fail to start even while others keep working.
6. Are you trying to use SRT on a Free plan? SRT ingest is only available on Creator and above. Free plans must use RTMP or RTMPS.
7. Have you hit your plan's maximum stream length? Every plan caps how long a single broadcast can run. If you'd already been live for a while, reaching that cap will end the stream on all destinations at once.

Good to know: A quick way to narrow it down — if only one destination is failing, the cause is usually specific to that platform (its connection or its own live-streaming requirements). If every destination fails at once, the problem is more likely upstream: your connection, your encoder settings, or a plan limit that applies to your whole broadcast.