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Turn off autoplay videos in Facebook on your mobile
Are you sick of videos on Facebook automatically playing at you when you're just trying to scroll through your feed? You can stop them in their tracks; here's how.
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Facebook has gone from being a great place to have your Nan publicly express disappointment with your life choices to a video-heavy social network where a staggering 500 million people watch over 100 million hours of Facebook video every day.
That's all well and good if you're choosing to watch these videos, but thanks to the autoplay function you'll often find yourself watching a quick burst of video when all you really want to do is catch up on the latest news from your friends.
It's not just a bit of a nuisance either. If you're on a mobile plan with a low data allowance, autoplay videos can waste a chunk of that data while you're filling in time on the daily commute. Finally, you'll have fewer advertising and dubious news stories blasted at you and that's never a bad thing.
You can give this annoying and expensive feature the flick pretty easily. Here's how to keep Facebook from autoplaying videos when you're on your mobile device.
Open up the Facebook app and go to the Menu, indicated by the three parallel horizontal lines.
Scroll down a little and find the Settings & Privacy option, with the stylised cog as the icon. After tapping it, the first option should be Settings, which will take you to a new screen.
Scroll down the Settings screen until you find the Media and Contacts section. Tap through to open up another new screen.
Here you'll find the Autoplay option. Tap it and you'll be able to choose between videos autoplaying on both Wi-Fi and mobile data connections, just Wi-Fi, or never autoplaying at all.
Pick the option you want (presumably "Never Autoplay Videos") and make sure the blue checkmark is ticked beside it.
That's it – blow a kiss goodbye to autoplay vids on your Android phone.
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Nic Healey has over 20-years' experience talking about tech and gaming, whether that's in print, online or even on radio and in podcasts. When not working he spends too much time posting photos of his cat.
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Considering how recently this was posted, I was hoping to find up to date information. My Android app settings menu hasn’t looked like that for months. Is there an actually up to date fix for this?
If you are on your Facebook Android App right now, please click on the upper right hand corner of the screen where the three lines are. Once there, go to “Settings and Privacy”. Click on “Data Saver”, this feature will assist you in using less data by removing the auto-play option of videos as well as reducing image sizes. Hope this helps!
Hello John, Thank you for responding to my Nov. 12th post/question. I understand what you are directing me to do because I have done it before but my problem is my app has changed in the settings area and there is no path for videos in the settings menu. It has changed completely and I was checking if anyone had come across this new settings menu to fix my problem. I will attempt to check with Facebook and if I get an answer I will post it here. Thanks anyway. — PS-I attempted to use the reply button and using Chrome or Edge it did not work so I responded through this channel instead.
Open up the Facebook app and go to the Menu, indicated by the three parallel horizontal lines. Click on “Settings and Privacy” then click on “Data Saver”. Turn this on to reduce image sizes as well as stop videos from playing automatically. Hope this helps!
I read this article and had already done this but my facebook ap has changed. It’s a subtle change I didn’t notice because it’s in the settings and I cannot find anything dealing with video playback. The settings menus have changed and appear more restrictive on what you can do. Can you help me because I hate video automatic playing.
If the article instructions did not work for you. Please follow the steps below:
From the top right of Facebook, click and select Settings.
Click Videos in the left menu.
Click the dropdown menu next to Auto-Play Videos and select Off.
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Considering how recently this was posted, I was hoping to find up to date information. My Android app settings menu hasn’t looked like that for months. Is there an actually up to date fix for this?
Hi Amber,
Thank you for leaving a question.
If you are on your Facebook Android App right now, please click on the upper right hand corner of the screen where the three lines are. Once there, go to “Settings and Privacy”. Click on “Data Saver”, this feature will assist you in using less data by removing the auto-play option of videos as well as reducing image sizes. Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Reggie
Hello John, Thank you for responding to my Nov. 12th post/question. I understand what you are directing me to do because I have done it before but my problem is my app has changed in the settings area and there is no path for videos in the settings menu. It has changed completely and I was checking if anyone had come across this new settings menu to fix my problem. I will attempt to check with Facebook and if I get an answer I will post it here. Thanks anyway. — PS-I attempted to use the reply button and using Chrome or Edge it did not work so I responded through this channel instead.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for responding.
Open up the Facebook app and go to the Menu, indicated by the three parallel horizontal lines. Click on “Settings and Privacy” then click on “Data Saver”. Turn this on to reduce image sizes as well as stop videos from playing automatically. Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Reggie
I read this article and had already done this but my facebook ap has changed. It’s a subtle change I didn’t notice because it’s in the settings and I cannot find anything dealing with video playback. The settings menus have changed and appear more restrictive on what you can do. Can you help me because I hate video automatic playing.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for reaching out to finder.
If the article instructions did not work for you. Please follow the steps below:
From the top right of Facebook, click and select Settings.
Click Videos in the left menu.
Click the dropdown menu next to Auto-Play Videos and select Off.
Cheers,
Reggie