You are in a public place doomscrolling, and suddenly your phone goes loud! Awakening from the sleepiness, you realize it’s from an auto-played video on your device. Now, that’s really irritating! Additionally, letting videos play automatically will drain your data pack and battery life. So, to avoid both, let me show you how to turn off autoplay videos on iPhone and iPad.

I have made sure to add the steps for all major entertainment apps that you use on a daily basis. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

How to stop videos from automatically playing on iPhone

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap AccessibilityMotion.
  3. Toggle off Auto-Play Video Previews.

Steps to turn off Auto-Play Video Previews in iPhone Accessibility settings

This is how you can stop videos from automatically playing in system apps on your iPhone.

Stop autoplay videos in App Store

Note: If you have turned off Auto-Play Video Previews from the Motion section in Accessibility, the video autoplay settings will be automatically disabled.

If you want to stop autoplay only in App Store, follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap App Store.
  3. Select Video Autoplay.
  4. Choose Off from the available options.

Steps to turn off Video Autoplay for App Store o iPhone

Furthermore, you can choose Wi-Fi only. After that, autoplay would work only while your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Turn off autoplay videos in Photos app

Note: If you have turned off Auto-Play Video Previews from the Motion section in Accessibility, these settings will be disabled by default.

  1. Go to Settings → Photos.
  2. Toggle off Autoplay Videos and Live Photos.

Steps to turn off Auto Play Video in Photos app on iPhone

Disable autoplay videos in Facebook

  1. Open Facebook and tap Menu () in the bottom-right corner.
  2. Tap Settings & Privacy → Settings.
  3. Scroll down and tap Media under Preferences.
  4. Here, select Never Autoplay Videos.
    If you only want to disable sound for autoplay videos, toggle off Videos start with sound.

Note: According to Meta, you must update the app if you don’t see Media in your iPhone’s Facebook app settings.

Turn off Video autoplay in Twitter

  1. Launch the Twitter app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the profile icon from the top-left corner.
  3. Select Settings and SupportSettings and privacy.
  4. Tap Accessibility, display, and languages.
  5. Select Data usage.

    Steps to access data usage settings in Twitter app on iPhone

  6. Tap Video autoplay.
  7. Choose Never.

    Disabling Auto Video Play in Twitter app on iPhone

You can also select Only on Wi-Fi to autoplay videos only when connected to Wi-Fi. Other than that, if you toggle on Data saver, it will also turn off autoplay.

Stop autoplay videos in YouTube on iPhone

If you are data-conscious, YouTube can certainly give you data anxiety. I remember the days when YouTube used to consume my whole data pack, thanks to my fondness for the app and its autoplay. Well, I have learned my lesson, and here’s how you can disable autoplay to save cellular data on YouTube:

  1. Launch the YouTube app.
  2. Tap the profile icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Select Settings → General.
  4. Tap Playback in feeds and then select Off.

    Disabling Playback feed in YouTube app on iPhone

  5. To turn off auto-play next video: Go back to SettingsAuto-play toggle off Auto-play next video.

    Disabling Auto Play Next in YouTube on iPhone

Stop autoplay for Instagram videos

  1. Open Instagram and tap your profile icon from the bottom right corner.
  2. Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
  3. Select Settings.

    Opening Instagram app settings on an iPhone

  4. Choose Account.
  5. Tap Data usage.
  6. Toggle on Use Less Data.

Note: This setting can only turn off videos on Instagram; Reels and ads will continue to be auto-played.

Turn off Netflix video previews

  1. Open the Netflix app on your iPhone.
    You can also open Netflix on your browser.
  2. Make sure you are logged in.
  3. Tap on your profile in the upper-right corner.
  4. Select Manage Profiles.
  5. Choose your profile.
  6. Toggle off Autoplay Previews.
    On the browser, it will be Autoplay Previews while browsing on all devices.

Steps to disable Autoplay Previews in Netflix app

Besides that, you can also toggle off Autoplay Next Episode on all devices.

Turn off autoplay in Amazon Prime Video

  1. Launch Amazon Prime on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap My Stuff in the lower-right corner.
  3. Next, tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner.
  4. Select Auto Play.
  5. Toggle off Allow Auto Play on this device.

That’s it!

While autoplay is a good feature to have, sometimes it can seem a bit intrusive and consume a lot of data. If you really want to allow autoplay on your iPhone and iPad, I’d recommend enabling Autoplay while using Wi-Fi, and thankfully, most apps do offer this feature.