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There are times when you may want to prevent videos and GIFs from automatically playing in your social media feeds. This could be because you’re trying to conserve cellular data, limit the addictiveness of these apps, or maintain better control over your viewing experience, as when a video is going viral that you don’t wish to see. Whatever the reason might be, here are the steps to turn off autoplaying videos and GIFs on popular social media platforms.
To turn off autoplay on Facebook, navigate to your profile picture icon, which appears in the top right corner of the desktop version or in the bottom navigation bar of the mobile app. Then, scroll down to “Settings & Privacy,” then select “Preferences,” where you’ll find a menu option for “Media.” Within that menu, there is an option to toggle video playback in your Feed and in Stories. Select the “Never” option.
The quick path: Settings > Preferences > Media > Video Playback > Never.
On the Instagram app, tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner. Once you’re on your profile page, tap the menu icon in the upper right corner of your screen (it’s the icon with three horizontal lines). Then, scroll to “Settings and activity,” then navigate to “Your app and media,” where you’ll find “Media quality.” From there, you can toggle on the option to “Use less cellular data.”
This isn’t as foolproof as a “don’t autoplay content” setting, but it will at least slow things down if you’re off Wi-Fi. Instagram also won’t autoplay sounds unless you click on a post with sound first.
The quick path: Profile > Settings and activity > Your app and media > Media quality > Use less cellular data.
On X, navigate to your profile picture in the top left to access the sidebar (on desktop, the sidebar is already visible). Then, select “Settings and privacy” — this will be in smaller font at the bottom of the menu on the app, and on mobile, you have to tap the three dots at the end of the list to bring up more options, which includes “Settings and privacy.” Next, scroll down to “Accessibility, display, and languages,” which will open another menu with a “Data usage” option, where you can turn off “Video autoplay.”
You can be extra thorough by navigating back to “Settings and privacy” and selecting “Display and sound.” There, you can toggle 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.
Access Bluesky’s menu by tapping the three-line icon in the upper left corner of the mobile app, then choose “Settings” at the bottom of the list. On desktop, this menu is accessible via the sidebar. Select “Content and media,” which will display options that include “Autoplay videos and GIFs.” Toggle this option off.
The quick path: Settings > Content and media > Autoplay videos and GIFs.
Unfortunately, Meta’s two-year-old microblogging platform does not yet offer a way to turn off autoplay. Hopefully, that’s on the product roadmap.
