Autoplaying videos are a huge nuisance, as they not only consume precious mobile data but can also create some awkward situations when a webpage automatically plays a video with the volume set on high. Chrome 64 for desktop recently introduced a new feature that automatically mutes autoplaying videos, and it now appears that the same functionality has also arrived on YouTube on Android.
YouTube has now begun rolling out a new feature called ‘Autoplay on Home’, which as the name clearly suggests, allows users to tweak the autoplay video controls to mute the automatically playing videos on YouTubes’s home video feed.
Previously, all one could do was just activate or deactivate the autoplay video feature for when a video you are watching ends. However, the Autoplay section in YouTube’s settings menu now has another option called ‘Autoplay on Home’ that will automatically play the videos shown on your Home Feed, albeit with sound turned off.
Users can configure whether these muted videos should automatically play on the app’s home feed or not. Moreover, they can also change the data consumption preference associated with the ‘Autoplay on Home’ feature and choose from three options i.e. Always on, Wi-Fi only, and Off. It must be noted that muted videos will only automatically play on the home screen, as the feature does not work on channel pages, search results or trending and subscription tabs.
If you want to use the feature, tap the Accounts icon on the YouTube app for Android > Settings > Autoplay > Autoplay on Home, and adjust the feature to your liking.
It appears that the ‘Autoplay on Home’ feature is currently being tested among a closed circle of users or its rollout has been geographically limited, as we tried to test it on our Android 8.1-powered Nokia 8 and Pixel 2 running the updated YouTube app, but couldn’t find the option to turn it on.
Abubakar Mohammed
