Sometimes, you may want to prevent videos and GIFs from automatically playing in social media feeds. This could be because you are trying to save cellular data, limit the addictiveness of these apps, or maintain better control over your viewing experience, like the video you don’t want to see when videos are popular. Whatever the reason, here are the steps to turn off automatic videos and GIFs on popular social media platforms.
To turn off autoplay on Facebook, navigate to your profile picture icon, which appears in the upper right corner of the desktop version or in the bottom navigation bar of the mobile app. Then, scroll down to Settings and Privacy and select Preferences to find the menu options for Media here. From this menu, you can choose to toggle video playback in your feed and story. Select the Never option.
Quick path: Settings > Preferences > Media > Video Playback > Never.
On the Instagram app, click on your profile picture in the lower right corner. Once you enter the profile page, click the menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen (this is an icon with three horizontal lines). Then, scroll to Settings and Activity, and navigate to Your Apps and Media, where you will find Media Quality. From there, you can toggle “Use less cellular data” on the option.
This isn’t as foolproof as the Don’t Play Content AutoPlay Setting, but if you’re not on Wi-Fi, it will at least slow down. Instagram won’t automatically play unless you first click on a post with a sound.
Quick path: Profile > Settings and Events > Your Apps and Media > Media Quality > Use less cellular data.
x (Twitter)
On X, navigate to the profile picture on the top left to access the sidebar (on the desktop, the sidebar is already visible). Then, select Settings and Privacy – the app’s menu has a smaller font at the bottom, and on mobile devices, you have to click on the three dots at the end of the list to come up with more options, including Settings and Privacy. Next, scroll down to Accessibility, Display and Language, which will open another menu with the Data Usage option where you can turn off Video AutoPlay.
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You can go thoroughly by going back to Settings and Privacy and selecting Show and Sound. There, you can switch to Media Preview.
Quick path: Settings and Privacy > Accessibility, Display and Language > Data Usage > Video Autoplayand Settings and Privacy > Display and Sound > Media Preview.
Bruceky
Visit Bluesky’s menu by clicking the three-line icon in the upper left corner of the mobile app and selecting Settings at the bottom of the list. On the desktop, this menu can be accessed through the sidebar. Select Content and Media, which will display the option that includes Autoplay Video and GIF. Turn off this option.
Quick path: Settings > Content and Media > Automatically play videos and GIFs.
Thread
Unfortunately, Meta’s two-year-old Weibo platform has not yet provided a way to turn off automatic playback. Hopefully that’s on the product roadmap.
