Annoyed by videos auto-playing in the Facebook app? Learn how to change a quick setting and stop videos from automatically starting playing when you browse Facebook on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone.
Autoplay videos are everywhere these days, and Facebook is no exception. I suppose an argument could be made that autoplay content provides a smoother user experience by removing the need to manually tap the play button.
But having videos load automatically as you scroll through your News Feed on Facebook might incur mobile data overage charges that outweigh any benefits. Plus, it can also take a toll on your battery backup.
If you use Facebook, I’ve got some good news for you: autoplay videos in your News Feed can be easily turned off completely with just a few taps. Or, you could do as I do and set videos to autoplay on Wi-Fi only in order to avoid unwanted cellular charges.
Adjust or turn off video auto-play on Facebook
- Launch the official Facebook app on your phone.
- Tap the Menu icon in the lower right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy to expand it, and choose Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Media.
- Under the Autoplay section, choose when videos will autoplay: On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi, On Wi-Fi Only, or Never Autoplay Videos.
Note: Facebook automatically turns off autoplay if your battery is low.
Autoplay videos and mobile data
If you set your autoplay settings to On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi, your cellular data is enabled, and Wi-Fi coverage is spotty, Facebook will attempt to retrieve News Feed videos through your carrier’s mobile data connection.
In this scenario, the app’s cellular data usage depends on the amount of time you spend watching a video. If you scroll past an autoplay video in the News Feed, your iPhone or iPad will use less data than if you stop watching it for a longer period of time.
If you set autoplay to On Wi-Fi Only, videos won’t autoplay on cellular. However, in this scenario, you can still manually click on a video to play it, in which case Facebook will load content over your mobile data connection.
Facebook may also prompt you to click a video in your News Feed to play it even though autoplay is enabled. This typically happens when either your mobile data connection is slow, or you’ve used a large amount of mobile data recently.
And as mentioned, the app automatically turns off autoplay if the battery is low.
Autoplay videos and Wi-Fi Assist
Folks who enable autoplay videos but are concerned about their mobile data consumption are advised to choose the On Wi-Fi Only option, which brings me to the feature called Wi-Fi Assist. Wi-Fi Assist automatically switches to your carrier’s data network whenever it detects a poor Wi-Fi connection.
In fact, iOS enables this feature by default. More worryingly, Wi-Fi Assist will switch to mobile data when Wi-Fi coverage is spotty, even if cellular data is disabled in Settings.
Therefore, you might want to consider turning Wi-Fi Assist off in order to prevent unwanted cellular data charges when Wi-Fi is acting up and Facebook’s autoplay setting is set to On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi.
On the same note: