Last Updated on January 9, 2019 by Larious

Videos are becoming an extensive part of our web browsing, it’s no surprise that all the social networks are making sure you don’t miss out on any videos. While we appreciate the new video-centric features of social networks, we most certainly do not appreciate the auto playing videos. All major social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram have videos set to autoplay automatically.

It is even more annoying to say the least, considering there are times when we are just casually browsing on our favorite social network and all of a sudden a video starts playing. It is even more annoying when webpages play videos automatically and we scramble around searching where is the sound coming from.

The autoplay videos also make sure that our limited mobile data bandwidth gets sucked in pre-loading those videos. The autoplay videos are especially a hassle when we are browsing at work, classes or at places where silence is a priority. The good news is there are ways to stop autoplay videos. Here’s how you can do it:

This is just a simple tutorial for those annoying videos that always pop up  before you scroll one or two posts on your social media. I’m going to show you how to disable auto-play videos on your various social media handle with ease.

How to stop autoplay videos on Facebook

Facebook natively allows you to disable autoplay videos and that’s really appreciated. Here’s how to stop autoplay videos on Facebook web and its Android & iOS apps.

• Facebook Web

1. Open Facebook and login to your account. Then, Go to “Settings“

2. In Settings, go to “Videos” tab and turn off Auto-play videos.

• Facebook Android App

1. Open the Facebook app on your Android smartphone or tablet. Tap the last tab with a hamburger menu icon.

2. Scroll down and go to “App Settings” and then, go to “Autoplay” option.

3. Choose to autoplay videos on “WiFi Connections Only” or “Never Autoplay Videos“.

Note: There have been reports of Autoplay option missing on some Android smartphones. Logout and then log into the Facebook app and you should see the option. 

• Facebook iOS App

1. Open the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap the hamburger “More” tab on the bottom right.

2. Scroll down and go to “Settings“. Then, select “Account Settings“.

3. Go to Videos and Photos->Autoplay. Choose to autoplay videos on “WiFi Connections Only” or “Never Auto-play Videos“.

How to stop autoplay videos on Instagram

Unlike Facebook, Instagram doesn’t let you stop autoplay videos but you can control it while you are using mobile data. Here’s how to do it:

• Instagram Android App

1. Open Instagram on your Android smartphone or tablet. Go to your Profile, which is the last tab below and tap the three-dot button on upper right corner.

2. Scroll down and go to “Cellular Data Use“. Select “Use Less Data“, which will stop pre-loading videos in the app while using cellular data.

• Instagram iOS App

1. Open Instagram app on your iPhone or iPad. Go to your Profile, which is the last tab below and tap the Settings icon on upper right corner.

2. Scroll down and go to “Mobile Data Use“. Turn on “Use Less Data“, which will stop pre-loading videos in the app while using cellular data.

How to stop autoplay videos on Twitter

Twitter lets you disable autoplay videos natively. Here’s how you can do it:

• Twitter Web

1. Open Twitter on your browser and login to your account. Click on your profile and go to “Settings“.

2. Scroll below to the “Content” header and untick the option of “Video Autoplay” in Video Tweets.

• Twitter Android App

1. Open Twitter app on your Android smartphone or tablet. Tap the three-dot buttonon the top right corner and go to “Settings“.

2. Then, go to “General” settings.

3. Scroll below and tap “Video autoplay” and select “Do not automatically play video in timelines“.

• Twitter iOS App

1. Open Twitter app on iPhone or iPad. Click on your profile and go to “Settings“.

2. Go to “Video autoplay”.

3. Select “Use WiFi only” or “Never play videos automatically“.

How to stop autoplay videos on YouTube

YouTube recently introduced an autoplay feature on its web platform. Disabling it is pretty simple though and here’s how to do it:

1. Open YouTube’s webpage in your browser and play any random video.

2. You will see an autoplay button turned on on the upper right corner. Just turn it off.

With all these tips mentioned above, no more auto-playing videos on your facebook, twitter or Instagram and youtube; you have the power to choose what video you want to watch or not to watch. Hope this tutorial made you be the boss of your devices and PCs.

If you like viewing videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., why not use this free online video downloader to save videos to your computer or iOS device so that you can enjoy them offline.