Maybe Autoplay is not as grating as Autotune, but it is just as annoying. It has been added to almost all the social networks as the feature which adds to their offerings but it is mostly unwanted.
The constant looping on mobile can finish your quota of data very quickly and also drain your battery. To add to that there could be a very ill-timed video or some video you just do not want, could be played next.
But the good thing is that you can turn it off on most major services.
Twitter
Autoplay can be turned off, both on Twitter.com and on mobile.
Just go to Twitter.com and click the three-dot More menu from the options select Settings and privacy. Click on Accessibility, display, and language, then Data usage, then Autoplay, and then Never. This will prevent videos and GIFs from automatically playing as you scroll.
On Android and iOS, just go to your profile and click on Settings and Privacy, then Display and Sound and uncheck Media previews.
Facebook
On Facebook, Autoplay just means a streak of views, which they do not care whether they are voluntary or involuntary. So they are very unlikely to turn it off.
To turn it off, just go to Facebook.com and click the downward-facing arrow on the upper right and select Settings & Privacy, then Settings. Now, in the menu on the left, select Videos and go to Auto-Play Videos. Then from the drop-down, select Off.
On Settings & Privacy > Settings. Then from Media and Contacts select Videos and Photos > Never Autoplay Videos.
Instagram
On Instagram, you won’t find an option to completely disable auto-play. But you can prefer to use fewer data. This turns out to be helpful if you have a limited bandwidth each month. For this, go to your profile, on your mobile, and select the hamburger icon which is on the top right and tap on Settings, then Account, then Cellular Data Use and then toggle the Use Less Data to switch on.
After you open Instagram, the video sounds are off. But after this, if you tap and turn the sound on for one video, the rest will also play the sound until you tap the screen again. Then after you end the Instagram session, the app is reset to silent mode and the next time you open the app the videos won’t play sound. You have to tap on the screen again to play them.
YouTube
Google, also wanting to not miss out on the easy views, has given the autoplay option on YouTube.com. If you want to disable it, you have to look for a small slider with the play icon and click it to disable the autoplay feature.
On mobile, you can just tap on the video you are watching and find the same icon and toggle it off.
Netflix
On Netflix, there are two ways to autoplay. First, there is the autoplay that happens after the end of each episode while watching a series. Then there is preview autoplay. If you want to turn both of them off, you first need to log into your account from a browser.
On the top right of your screen, click on your profile icon and select Account. Scroll down to Profile & Parental Controls and select your account ( if there are multiple profiles on your account) and then click on Change next to Playback settings. Under Autoplay controls for [your name], confirm if Autoplay Next Episode in a Series on All Devices and Autoplay Previews on All Devices are unchecked. Then click Save.
Hulu
Yes, Hulu offers a lot of great stuff but that doesn’t essentially mean that you would want to watch it back to back.
On a browser, when the show or movie is playing, just click the gear icon which will be on the bottom right of the screen, then toggle off the Autoplay. On mobile, just select your user icon > Settings, then Autoplay and move the slider to the off position.
Amazon Video
Along with the Next Up feature, there comes up a little box, at the bottom of the screen, at the end of an episode, which will make you start the next episode. To turn off this Autoplay, just go to your Account, then Prime video settings. Now, click on the Player tab and click Off under Auto-Play.
