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Google released updates for the company's YouTube application for Android and Apple's iOS operating system recently. One of the changes of the update moved the autoplay toggle; it is now displayed in the media player.
YouTube users who use the web version, e.g. on a desktop operating system such as Windows, will get the same change. Google is rolling it out currently to all users who access YouTube on the web.
Most users should see a prompt the next time they play a video on the site stating "looking for autoplay? Choose whether videos automatically play next".
It is easy to dismiss though and while some users may spot the new toggle in the player interface right away, others may wonder where the autoplay button is or whether it has been removed.
The autoplay toggle was displayed in the sidebar on desktop versions of YouTube up until recently. Google introduced the autoplay behavior on YouTube in 2015.
Autoplay is set to ON by default, which means that YouTube will start to play the next video in the queue, or the next video that its algorithm picked to be watched, automatically after the active video ends.
Some users dislike autoplay on YouTube as it loads a new video and prevents users from interacting with the current one or checking out other recommendations. If you like to read and leave comments, autoplay is problematic.
Autoplay has been added to the video player on YouTube. All you have to do is click on the new icon -- which displays "autoplay is on/off" when you hover over it. A click or tap toggles the option, and the status indicates the change immediately.
YouTube remembers the state of autoplay even if you leave the page or close the site entirely. Please note that the toggle does not interfere with the auto-playing of videos when you open them on the site, it is just designed to allow or prevent autoplay of the video that is in queue after the current one ends.
The change improves the visibility of the autoplay toggle on YouTube, and it may lead to more users disabling next video autoplay functionality on the site.
Now You: what is your take on autoplay functionality?
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
I noticed this last week. Now its easier to accidentally turn on.
Hello, Martin
Is there a way to eliminate the miniatures that appear (overlay) at almost the end of all videos advertising other videos? Thank you and I wish you a great new year!
Hi, maybe this works? https://www.ghacks.net/2019/01/03/how-to-block-endscreen-video-recommendations-on-youtube/
Those end-cards can be taken care of with an extension.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/you-no-cards/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/you-no-cards/ijjegnfpommcmglgjpifikbhnlbboikl
what is your take on autoplay functionality?
I like the new placement, but I don’t use YT’s autoplay much, so whatever.
Instead I use the extension “Watch Next: YouTube” which lets me make a playlist of just the videos I choose, that will autoplay them all. The only downside is that “Watch Next: YouTube” can’t seem to keep them in fullscreen. If anyone knows how to simply do that in the browser somehow, please share. I already know about solutions that don’t use a browser.
@dot gov
You could just use YouTube’s “Add To Queue” feature. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9546304
@Rnk
Thnaks, but nope, I can’t do that. You need a Google account for that, and they demand my phone number to open an account. No thanks to that.
“I’m bored… lets change a feature!”
“why not.. we’ve not changed one for 15 minutes….”
– Google Youtube planning meeting
A good move IMO. If a acknowledgement cookie is removed or blocked you’ll get the message on every new YouTube watch video start. With uBO just add following in ‘My filters’ :
[youtube.com##.ytp-promotooltip-container] without the [ ] of course
Autoplay is always off here thanks to a small armada of extensions and scripts which deeply modify YouTube, without which I’d never open that site.
I didn’t take much notice of this optical change because I am blocking YouTube autoplay with the Enhancer for YouTube extension by MaximeRF – I am using the extension for other things as well, this is just one of its features.
Add the following to “My filters” on uBlock Origin and your YouTube experience will be about as perfect as it gets:
youtube.com##ytd-popup-container
youtube.com##ytd-consent-bump-lightbox.style-scope
http://www.youtube.com##.opened
The more troublesome problem with YouTube and FF autoplay is when landing on a new video it always autoplays (or in some cases it sort of does but it glitches and autoplay for second until it stops) and doesn’t seem obey some settings under about:config according to several info sources on how to stop autoplay, and/or FF on YT doesn’t obey the settings for autoplay blocked for both audio and video (which can be set on the left side or URL bar, and probably also somewhere under the Preferences page).
So I finally found a combination that seems to work with the following settings:
dom.media.autoplay.autoplay-policy-api;true
media.autoplay.blocking_policy;2
media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground;false
At least this works on FF84 under Ubuntu as of now…
WIth FF, I keep video and audio autoplay off in Options>Privacy and Security, then when I visit a site where I want videos to play, I click the lock thing on the URL bar and a drop down for just that site appears to enable one or both.
I also clear History, cache, etc on close ( In Options>Privacy and Security, too) with everything except site preferences checked.
Glad the settings you noted work and hope they continue to, they’ve changed a bazillion times over the last few years, save them! :)
We use FF in Windows and Linux, profiles seem to be transferrable between Windows and most Linux distros; the only challenge is finding the freaking thing in Linux, it’s not always in the same place. Moving profiles makes set up much faster and gives a consistent look.
I noticed this on YouTube 10 minutes ago. Is there a way to enable the sidebar on there again? Because that’s where Autoplay belongs, not on the video itself.
FINALLY!!!! The correct place of an autoplay button is on the player. They had added it first on the player of Google Drive, nice to see they moved it to the correct place in YouTube too. I like the consistency they did there.
‘Liked Videos’ playlist is still set to autoplay without any option to disable it…
Moving the functionality is one thing, but I’ve experienced it multiple times that autoplay miraculously switched itself on even though I turn it off before (and I’m signed in). Happens over and over again (but not every single time)
What about the main autoplay switch on the top right of any You Tube page over the list of suggested videos? I only watch You Tube on Windows, not sure if the big button is in android.
I really don’t like autoplay and I guess it doesn’t like me; turn it off, it comes back on when you manually select another vid. Loading circle does the same thing.
I guess this change eliminates one step and users will tend to skip the gear thing, setting resolution, get whatever auto blur YouTube wants and leave annotations intact (Subscribe! Like! Obey!)
@ULBoom
Read my comment above. Enhancer for YouTube by MaximeRF successfully disables YouTube’s autoplay for me.
Just what I needed thanks dude. Thought they were trying to force us on to YT premium. I have that but prefer web version on desktop.
YouTube says I have this setting turned off, but videos still autoplay. There seems too be no way to stop it anymore.
thanks for providing a clear screenshot on how to do this! I love that! I didnt have to scroll thru a giant webpage or watch a 10 minute video I got my answer right away. ty!