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Why does autoplay keep turning on

Google released updates for the company's YouTube application for Android and Apple's iOS operating system recently. One of the changes of the update moved the autoplay toggle; it is now displayed in the media player.

YouTube users who use the web version, e.g. on a desktop operating system such as Windows, will get the same change. Google is rolling it out currently to all users who access YouTube on the web.

Most users should see a prompt the next time they play a video on the site stating "looking for autoplay? Choose whether videos automatically play next".

It is easy to dismiss though and while some users may spot the new toggle in the player interface right away, others may wonder where the autoplay button is or whether it has been removed.

The autoplay toggle was displayed in the sidebar on desktop versions of YouTube up until recently. Google introduced the autoplay behavior on YouTube in 2015.

Autoplay is set to ON by default, which means that YouTube will start to play the next video in the queue, or the next video that its algorithm picked to be watched, automatically after the active video ends.

Some users dislike autoplay on YouTube as it loads a new video and prevents users from interacting with the current one or checking out other recommendations. If you like to read and leave comments, autoplay is problematic.

Autoplay has been added to the video player on YouTube. If you want to turn off Youtube autoplay, all you have to do is click on the new icon -- which displays "autoplay is on/off" when you hover over it. A click or tap toggles the option, and the status indicates the change immediately.

YouTube remembers the state of autoplay even if you leave the page or close the site entirely. Please note that the toggle does not interfere with the auto-playing of videos when you open them on the site, it is just designed to allow or prevent autoplay of the video that is in queue after the current one ends.

The change improves the visibility of the autoplay toggle on YouTube, and it may lead to more users disabling next video autoplay functionality on the site.

Now You: what is your take on autoplay functionality?

Summary

Typically, if you toggle off the autoplay feature once, YouTube remembers the setting on your account and it stays that way even after you open YouTube on a new tab or window. Users have to manually toggle off autoplay after opening YouTube in a new tab or after refreshing the page.

How do I change video autoplay settings on Facebook?

Click the menu button at the top right of your screen. Once you’re there, scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy,” then “Settings.” Scroll down until you find “Media and Contacts” and tap on it. Tap on “Autoplay” and set it to “Never Autoplay Videos.”

Why does Facebook keep turning autoplay on?

Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy then tap Settings. Scroll down to Preferences and tap Media. Scroll down to Autoplay, then tap to select from the following options: On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi: Videos will always autoplay on this selection.

How do I get a YouTube video to play on Facebook?

Go to the video you want to share on YouTube, and click the “Share” icon beneath the video. This opens the Share window, where you can click the “Facebook” icon. This takes you to a new tab on your browser, where you’ll have to log into Facebook if you’re not logged in already.

Turn Autoplay on or off

Go to the watch screen of any video.
At the top of the video player, tap the Autoplay switch to set it to On or Off .

How do you keep YouTube videos playing?

All you have to do is go for any YouTube, play it, and go to Home. The video will stop playing and to play it in the background you just need to pull down the notification shade [in Android] or the Control Centre [in iOS] and resume playing the video.

Why do YouTube videos not play in Facebook?

The issues include a time or date that is incorrect and accumulated cache in the YouTube app on the mobile, an outdated YouTube app, or an outdated OS version such as outdated Android OS. Problem with Flash Player: YouTube streams videos with the use of a flash player.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

You’ve probably been caught off guard by videos that play automatically on Facebook, Twitter, or just across the internet in general. They begin playing as soon as you load a page or [if they’re more deviously implemented] when you start scrolling through a page.

Automatic video play is a feature that, while nice to have when it’s surfacing content that’s related to your interests, can be pretty annoying. Autoplay videos can be harmful, too, exposing you to violent, offensive, or otherwise unwanted content that you shouldn’t have to see by default.

Whether you just want to put an end to autoplay videos on social media platforms or are looking for a more comprehensive fix, we’ve got some tips. Keep in mind that you’ll need to adjust these settings for every device that you use, since your preferences on, say, your phone do not automatically push to your PC.

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

Facebook

If you’re using Facebook on your browser, you can turn off autoplay videos this way:

Go to the drop-down menu at the top right of the page.
Select “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings.”
Look for the “Videos” listing on the left-hand menu. Inside of that option is a toggle where you can turn off autoplaying videos.

Facebook has similar options available for its iOS and Android apps:

Using the iOS app

Click the menu button on the bottom of your screen.
Once you’re there, tap “Settings & Privacy,” then “Settings.”
Scroll down until you find “Media and Contacts,” then tap “Videos and Photos.”
Finally, once you find “Autoplay,” you can turn off the feature.

Using the Android app

Click the menu button at the top right of your screen.
Once you’re there, scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy,” then “Settings.”
Scroll down until you find “Media and Contacts” and tap on it.
Tap on “Autoplay” and set it to “Never Autoplay Videos.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter

Click on “More” in the left-hand menu, and then on “Settings and privacy.”
Select “Accessibility, display, and languages” > “Data usage”
Click on the “Autoplay” setting. You can then switch off the autoplaying of videos on your feed.

Using the iOS and Android apps

Click the profile picture at the top of your phone screen.
Select “Settings and privacy” in the menu.
Navigate to “Data usage,” tap on “Video autoplay” and set it to “Never.”

Instagram

Instagram doesn’t allow for autoplay videos to be turned off, so you’ll have to tread carefully here. Videos won’t autoplay with sound if you use Instagram on your browser. Stopping autoplay on mobile devices is possible, but a little roundabout.

Using a mobile app

Go to your profile page and tap on the three lines in the upper right corner
Go to “Settings” > “Account” > “Cellular Data Use”
For Android: toggle the “Data Saver” on and tap on “High Resolution Media.” If you then select “Never,” then media such as videos won’t load in advance.
For iOS: toggle on “Use Less Data”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit, like most sites that host video, autoplays videos by default. However, it’s pretty easy to turn it off.

Using the newest design

Click your username in the upper-right corner and select “User settings” in the menu.
Select the “Feed settings” tab at the top of the page, and toggle off the “Autoplay media” switch.

Using the legacy version

Click “Preferences” next to your username in the top right of the window.
Under “Media,” look for and uncheck “Autoplay Reddit videos on the desktop comments page.”
You’ll need to hit “save options” at the bottom of the screen to put the changes through.

Using the mobile app

Tap the icon next to the search bar, then hit “Settings.”
You’ll see “Autoplay” near the top of the page, and you can easily choose to turn it off.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Desktop browsers

There are a variety of desktop browsers out there — some of which let you turn off video autoplay and some of which don’t.

Using Google Chrome

If you use Google Chrome and want to turn off video autoplay — you can’t. There used to be an experimental command-line flag that allowed you to turn them off [you can find the flags by typing chrome://flags/ into Chrome’s address field], but it’s disappeared.

You can turn the sound off [which might help a bit]:

Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner
Select “Settings” > “Site settings” > “Sound”
Toggle sound off. You can add exceptions for specific sites here.

Using Microsoft Edge

Interestingly, Microsoft’s Edge browser, which is also based on the Chromium open-source design, does let you turn off — well, at least, limit — video autoplay:

Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “Settings.”
In the left-hand column, click on “Site Permissions,” and then scroll down to and select “Media autoplay.”

You can either allow audio and video to play automatically or limit it. According to the instructions, whether autoplay will work or not will depend on “how you’ve visited the page and whether you interacted with media in the past.”

Using Firefox

Firefox has a similar feature that lets you turn off autoplay, for the most part.

Click on the three lines in the upper right corner of the browser and select “Preferences.”
In the left-hand column, click on “Privacy & Security.”
Scroll down to the section headed “Permissions” and look for “Autoplay.” Click on the button marked “Settings.”

A drop-down menu will let you allow audio and video, block audio, or block audio and video. You can also specify sites that you want to differ from your defaults — for example, if you block audio and video as a default, but you want to allow it for, say, The Verge.

Using Safari

Safari makes it simple to disable autoplay. In fact, it assumes that you want the feature disabled to begin with. However, if it hasn’t been disabled — or if you want to make some exceptions to the rule — here’s what you do:

While in the app, go to Safari > Preferences in the top menu.
Click on “Websites” in the top menu.
Look for and select “Auto-Play” in the side menu.
Look for the drop-down menu at the bottom right of the window and select “Never Auto-Play.”

As with Firefox, you can whitelist any sites that you want to be an exception to the rule.

Update September 4th, 2020 5:11PM ET: This article was originally published on March 15th, 2019. Most of the entries have been updated.

Update April 15, 2021 5:30PM ET: Additional entries have been updated.