How to: Disable Facebook Video Auto Play on Desktop & iPhone

In a recent update, Facebook enabled video autoplay on desktop as well as on iPhone, by default. While some users may prefer this Twitter-styled auto play, it can be really annoying for some – especially when a 30 minutes long video starts playing without you having to decide whether you want to play it or not. Some users won’t prefer if videos start playing when they scroll through the news feed on Facebook. But don’t worry, Facebook has made it very easy to disable video autoplay on iPhone and desktop. So you can change the settings to make sure that videos don’t start playing automatically. Here is the step by step guide on how to disable this option:

Disable Facebook Video Auto Play on Desktop

Step 1: Log in to Facebook on your desktop PC

Step 2: Navigate to the settings page (just click on the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/settings)

Step 3: From the options on left sidebar, click on “Videos” – or you can simply click this URL: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=videos

Here you can change settings about videos. If you want to always play videos in HD (when available), you can select that option from settings.

Step 4: For the option that says “Auto-Play videos”, change the setting from “Default” to “Off”.

Step 5: Return to your Facebook timeline and you will notice that videos will not autoplay now.

You can change this setting again any time to enable it.

Disable Facebook Video Auto Play on iPhone

Like on desktop, Facebook videos begin automatically as you scroll through your news feed. This can be upsetting on a mobile device, especially if you are data-conscious and do not want Facebook to use your data connection to play videos. Thankfully, this can be changed too. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Launch the Facebook app on your iPhone

Step 2: Tap on “More” tab in the app

Step 3: Scroll down and tap on “Privacy Shortcuts”.

Step 4: Tap on “More Settings” option:

Step 5: Now tap on “Videos and Photos”.

On this page, you can change your video upload / play settings.

Step 6: Under “Video Settings”, tap on “Autoplay”. You will find three options that you can choose from:

• On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi Connections – this is enabled by default and will autoplay videos whether you are connected to Wi-Fi or not
• On Wi-Fi Connections Only – videos will play automatically ONLY when you are connected to a Wi-Fi
• Never Autoplay Videos – This is my preferred option. It will never play a video unless you tap to play it.

Step 7: Select the option that suits your needs.

If you disable video autoplay in Facebook iPhone app, it will not only save the data but will also save battery.