Lots of people have problems using YouTube on their iPad Mini and a selection of other IDevices such as the iPad 2. The problem usually occurs within 5 – 30 minutes of playing video, although can take as long as an hour. The problem is most common when the video content is being streamed from YouTube; however ABC player, Netflix etc. are also affected. The problem, although less common, also occurs with video content stored on the device. Once the problem has occurred the iPad will completely freeze requiring a hard reset (power and home button) to regain control of the device. This is not the same as stuttering or buffering which doesn’t require a hard reset. The issue resembles an overheating problem in the varying amount of time it takes to occur and that it is an issue across multiple applications.
There are only a couple of things that can be done to fix this problem; the first is to restore the iPad mini. The Apple Genius will make you do this anyway and it can make the process faster if you have already done it. Then test to see if the problem occurs again, don’t resynchronise the device and test it with as few apps installed as possible. If this doesn’t solve the issue the fix is simple, just have Apple swap it for a new one. You can book an appointment with a Genius using the following link http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/ some Apple stores are saying “because these aren’t Apple applications, it’s possible that this is not a hardware issue” and it does appear to be a relatively small batch of devices that have been affected, but don’t let this stop you getting a device that works as it should.