'Autoplay' is used increasingly on websites streaming videos. I come across it on News pages: BBC, New York Times and others and it's become an irritant having to switch it off each time you want to view a single item. I can't find a user control to stop it globally in Safari. Is there another way to stop this nuisance?
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Safari: Turn off 'autoplay' by default?
- Thread starter nnoble
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I just researched this exact subject yesterday and found no solution. I don't have Flash installed. Have ClicktoPlugin on, ClicktoFlash on and still get exactly what you see. From my crude understanding of this subject, the videos are HTML5 with an imbedded autoplay feature that is impossible to disable. I would love for some forum member to prove me wrong on this as I too am getting very annoyed by all the videos that I have no interest in autoplaying.
I have always had that checked and it does not help with this issue. I think we are just seeing more and more rude websites auto playing videos is the issue. Some of them I can stop using Adguard, but others are more persistent and cannot be stopped. I have just stopped using websites that do this. CNet is about the worst.
Not quite sure as I've been to NYT & CNET, nothing autoplaying on mine, if it's a frequently visited site maybe go into preferences, security, internet plug ins, check allow plug ins, but go into plug in settings & have a play about in there, or maybe just a reboot would do it?
Thanks. I just double-checked and I too have that option checked and it works - until you opt to view a single clip, when effectively it overrides that option until you restart the browser, or sometimes just the webpage. Programmers and website developers have this autoplay 'tool' and use it without considering what the user wants. No user, or very few on a news website anyway, really want to mindlessly watch or hear a whole series of clips. I fear the only option is for the user to opt out by remembering to turn auto-play off when choosing to view a single item. Developers don't always think about users when they have a new programming toy and on this occasion that's what's happened. Persuading website developers to make this an 'opt-in' is the only way - unless. Unless browser developers can offer us a way of circumventing this inconsiderate, or what Weaselboy rightly describes as 'rude', practice. However, still hoping for an a nice neat alternative.
I emailed the BBC about autoplay and received a swift response. Make of it what you will but a part of the reply highlighted in bold by me shows they have already recognised the issue and possibly change will come.
Thank you for getting in touch about videos on the BBC News website.
A while ago we made a change to the UK News site to play another related video after the first video has been played.
This had been live on the international site for over a year and was launched because of the increased appetite for video from our users. The idea behind continuous play is to allow users to discover related video content in an easy and seamless way.
However we appreciate that some users don't find this facility useful or otherwise find it annoying and the aim of the autoplay toggle we’ve introduced - in addition to the prompt that appears between videos – has been to provide another way to disable it, albeit temporarily.
We now are looking at how best to resolve this issue, including ways to disable the feature permanently, but unfortunately at this stage we are unable to give a timescale for when this will happen.
However, your feedback is very helpful in determining the best way to proceed with the autoplay facility in the future.
Thank you for getting in touch about videos on the BBC News website.
A while ago we made a change to the UK News site to play another related video after the first video has been played.
This had been live on the international site for over a year and was launched because of the increased appetite for video from our users. The idea behind continuous play is to allow users to discover related video content in an easy and seamless way.
However we appreciate that some users don't find this facility useful or otherwise find it annoying and the aim of the autoplay toggle we’ve introduced - in addition to the prompt that appears between videos – has been to provide another way to disable it, albeit temporarily.
We now are looking at how best to resolve this issue, including ways to disable the feature permanently, but unfortunately at this stage we are unable to give a timescale for when this will happen.
However, your feedback is very helpful in determining the best way to proceed with the autoplay facility in the future.
I have always had plugins completely turned off and still get these stupid videos on some sites. Like OP mentioned, it seems more and more sites are doing this.
Safari is good about not auto playing unless that tab is active...try it in Firefox....every tab will start auto playing at once...very poorly thought out.
I realize this is an older thread, but I found this and it seems to be working:
http://macreports.com/disable-auto-play-videos-safari-macos/
http://macreports.com/disable-auto-play-videos-safari-macos/
Thats a complete different function, don't use it. inline video = play video inside a website, like embedden content.
When activating this you have to press every Play button on YouTube to start playing a video. Plus this video will get pulled out of the website and opened in the full screen viewer.
When activating this you have to press every Play button on YouTube to start playing a video. Plus this video will get pulled out of the website and opened in the full screen viewer.
I would use any method to stop this truly annoying practice. The method in the link certainly solves the problem of eliminating the videos that take you by surprise, i.e. the completely unsolicited videos, normally advertising. However, on the BBC News website, if you voluntarily click to watch a single video news report, it seems the website developers think you want to sit and watch an endles stream (give geeks a toy and they will play). Yes, you can turn-off autoplay by using the toggle switch while the video is playig but I think that should be an 'opt in' toggle rather than an 'opt out' toggle. Still, the link above solves the completely unsolicited trash from coming through. PS. The annoying scenarios mentioned in the link are described perfectly.
When you never ever watch a video in your browser it's indeed working yes. Kill any video and you're okay.
Did you even test it to see what happens when you visit sites like YouTube while this function is activated?
It's the most horrible experience ever to watch video's only because you want to stopt them from autoplaying on some sites.
I've been using this "mod" for months...and love it!!! The thing I did different was to select "video needs user action" instead of "disallow inline video". Video comes up, freezes, I click on the Play button and the video plays normally. This gave me back control of webpages I visit. Back in the days of Flash videos, I used "Click to Flash" to accomplish the same thing. In the new era of HTML5 with it's embedded flags that take away control from the user, I have found this to work just as well and have never had a problem with it.
I use YouTube and I still like the fact that I can go to any website that would normally autoplay a video that I have no interest, and I get to choose whether or not to play the video. Having to actually click the PLAY button when using YouTube is a small price to pay. And...if you feel you need to have the autoplay function enabled, you just go up to the debug menu and unclick the "media needs user action" off.
I just think it's a crock that we have to use hacks to give us this option.
Edit: I found this to be a good reference and it shows you how to turn on/off the "media needs user action" by assigning it a keyboard shortcut (this is especially used if you are a YouTube user).
https://nerdily.org/2017/shanking-html5-autoplay-videos-with-safaris-debug-menu/
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nope does not work in either toggle to stop autoplay turning off flash just gets you pop-up on each page asking if you want to enable it.
Old thread - but I am also suffering with this problem on the BBC news site. I've tried implementing the Debug options described above, but it mostly doesn't seem to work. It always pauses before the first video starts (but it already used to do this). My problem is about the autoplay of the *next* clip. Most of the time this happens regardless. But occasionally autoplay does not happen (even when the flag is visible saying "Autoplay On" in top right of video.
Any ideas? I am running El Capitan OS.
Any ideas? I am running El Capitan OS.