In today’s digital age, social media platforms are filled with engaging videos and GIFs that can automatically play as you scroll through your feed. While this feature can enhance your experience, it may also lead to excessive data usage or distractions. If you’re looking to take control of your viewing habits and conserve your mobile data, disabling autoplay is a great option. Below, we outline how to turn off autoplay for videos and GIFs across various popular social media platforms.
Turning Off Autoplay on Facebook
To disable autoplay on Facebook, start by clicking on your profile picture located in the upper right corner of the desktop interface or at the bottom of the mobile app. From there, navigate to the “Settings & Privacy” section, followed by “Preferences.” Here, you will find a menu labeled “Media.” Within this menu, you can adjust the video playback settings for your feed and stories. Simply select the “Never” option to stop videos from playing automatically.
The quick path: Settings > Preferences > Media > Video Playback > Never.
Disabling Autoplay on Instagram
On the Instagram app, tap your profile icon in the bottom-right corner to access your profile. Next, click on the menu icon in the upper right corner, which resembles three horizontal lines. Scroll down to “Settings and activity,” then go to “Your app and media.” Here, you will find the “Media quality” option, where you can enable the setting to “Use less cellular data.” While this doesn’t completely stop autoplay, it can help reduce data usage when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi.
The quick path: Profile > Settings and activity > Your app and media > Media quality > Use less cellular data.
Adjusting Autoplay Settings on X
To manage autoplay settings on X, click on your profile picture in the top left corner to open the sidebar. Select “Settings and privacy,” which can be found at the bottom of the menu. On mobile, you may need to tap the three dots to reveal more options. Scroll down to “Accessibility, display, and languages,” and then find the “Data usage” section. Here, you can disable the “Video autoplay” feature.
For a more comprehensive approach, you can also return to “Settings and privacy” and select “Display and sound” to turn off “Media previews.”
The quick path: Settings and privacy > Accessibility, display, and languages > Data usage > Video autoplay, and Settings and privacy > Display and sound > Media previews.
Managing Autoplay on Bluesky
To adjust autoplay settings on Bluesky, tap the three-line icon in the upper left corner of the mobile app to access the menu. Select “Settings” at the bottom of the list. On desktop, this menu is available via the sidebar. Choose “Content and media,” where you will find the option to disable “Autoplay videos and GIFs.” Simply toggle this setting off to stop automatic playback.
The quick path: Settings > Content and media > Autoplay videos and GIFs.
As of now, the microblogging platform from Meta does not provide an option to disable autoplay. Users are hopeful that this feature will be included in future updates.