One of the most annoying things about living online these days is autoplay. From ads playing audio on websites to previews on Netflix, videos that start without prompting are, more often than not, a scourge.
YouTube is not immune to this problem. The Google-owned platform has determined that after watching a video that we actively chose, we want to see something else that we didn’t choose. YouTube chooses which tracking videos play automatically based on your viewing history. So there’s a good chance you’ll be interested in watching what the feature is bubbling up.
And if you use YouTube videos as background noise, autoplay might be totally for you. That’s great if it works for you! However, you can simply stop playing videos after seeing the ones we actually want to watch, YouTube. Really, it’s okay.
It’s not exactly a secret as to why autoplay is enabled by default on YouTube (at least for adult users). The more videos the service shows you, the more ads it can serve and the more it can improve parent company Alphabet’s bottom line.
However, you can simply say no to autoplay in just a few steps. I did this years ago and have never regretted the decision. If you prefer to let videos play automatically, we’ll show you how to keep that setting as well.
How to enable or disable YouTube autoplay
There are a few things to note about autoplay, which we’ll get to in a moment, but the key factor for our purposes is that you can enable it on some devices and disable it on others. So we are going to explain how to enable YouTube autoplay on multiple platforms.
Let’s start with phones and tablets. One thing to keep in mind here is that if autoplay is enabled, the next video YouTube has scheduled for you won’t automatically play if you type something, like a comment or search, or scroll through the video player (the same is true if you’re using YouTube on a computer). Additionally, you can tap the “Cancel” prompt before the next video starts.
The easiest way to turn off (or turn on) autoplay in the YouTube mobile and tablet app is to tap the toggle at the top of the video player while you’re watching something. If you see a pause icon, autoplay is disabled. The opposite is true if a play icon is displayed.
You can also enable autoplay outside of the video player. On the iOS or Android app, you can tap your profile picture, then the Settings/gear icon, then Play. In this menu, there is an “Autoplay next video” toggle.
Things are also simple on a PC or laptop. You can turn autoplay on or off using the toggle at the bottom of the video player.
Next, let’s see how to change YouTube app settings for TVs and gaming consoles. Simply go to your profile, go to settings and select the “Autoplay next video” option. Changing the autoplay setting here will apply to TVs and similar connected devices where you’ve signed in with your account. If you’re streaming YouTube from your phone or tablet, you can also enable autoplay from the video queue.
Autoplay Factors to Keep in Mind
As I noted in the introduction, autoplay is turned off by default on YouTube for users ages 13-17. If a teen has enabled it themselves, parents and guardians can turn off autoplay entirely on supervised accounts.
Another thing to be aware of is that if you’re watching YouTube on a mobile network, autoplay will stop after 30 minutes. On Wi-Fi, it will stop after four hours.
