Facebook adverts and auto-playing videos can be a real pain, especially if they eat up your mobile data allowance or blast sound from your phone or computer when you least expect it. Here’s how to stop ads and other videos from automatically playing inside Facebook’s iOS and Android apps or in a web browser, as well as how to mute their audio.
How to turn off the video auto-play feature in Facebook: iOS
To stop videos and adverts from automatically playing in the iOS Facebook app, open the app and then tap the menu button (three horizontal lines in the right corner of the bottom toolbar). Inside this menu, scroll down and you’ll find the Settings option. Tap this and head to Account Settings when prompted.
From here, you can tap the Videos and Photos setting. In here you’ll find a Auto-play setting. All you need to do is tap this and choose your preferred settings. Tap ‘On WiFi Connections Only’ if you want to simply save your mobile data allowance, or ‘Never Auto-play Videos’ if you want to prevent them from playing entirely. With this option, the Facebook app will only play a video when you tap on it.
How to turn off the video auto-play feature in Facebook: Android
To stop Facebook videos and adverts from automatically playing in the Android app, go to the app and then tap the menu button (three horizontal lines in the right side of the top toolbar). Inside this menu, scroll right down and you’ll find the App Settings option.
Inside Facebook’s ‘General’ settings, you’ll find an Autoplay setting. All you need to do is tap this and choose your preferred settings. Tap ‘On WiFi Connections Only’ if you want to simply save mobile data, or ‘Never Autoplay Videos’ if you want to prevent them from playing under any conditions. With this option, the Facebook app will only play a video when you tap on it.
How to turn off the video auto-play feature in Facebook: Desktop web version
If you’re browsing Facebook on a PC or Mac, i.e. using the web browser version of Facebook, then the process for disabling video auto-play is similar to the app version.
Click the downwards-facing arrow in the top right corner and then click on ‘Settings’. In here you’ll spy a menu of various settings down the left column. Tap ‘Videos’ down at the bottom of this list and an ‘Auto-play videos’ option will pop up.
Change this to ‘off’ and you’ll have to manually click a video for it to play.
How to mute Facebook app videos and adverts: iOS
Open the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad and then tap the menu button (three horizontal lines in the right corner of the bottom toolbar). Scroll down and tap on Settings, and then Account Settings when prompted.
From the Account Settings screen, tap on Sounds. In here you just need to disable ‘Videos in News Feed Start with Sound’, to mute those irritating Facebook ads.
How to mute Facebook app videos and adverts: Android
To mute those auto-playing Facebook videos and adverts in the Android app, open up the app and then tap the menu button (three horizontal lines in the right side of the top toolbar). Inside this menu, scroll right down to find the App Settings option and give this a poke.
Next, find the ‘Videos in News Feed Start with Sound’ option and tap this to disable it.
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