The Frustration of Autoplay
Streaming services are designed to maximize your viewing time. By default, when the credits begin to roll on an episode of a television show on your Apple TV, a small countdown timer appears in the corner of the screen. If you do not scramble to find the remote and press the “Menu” button in time, the system will automatically launch you into the next episode. While excellent for binge-watching on a lazy Sunday, this feature is incredibly frustrating if you like to watch the post-credits scenes, if you use the show to fall asleep (resulting in you waking up three episodes later and losing your place), or if you simply prefer maintaining deliberate control over your media consumption. You can permanently disable this countdown feature.
How to Turn Off “Auto-Play Next Video”
You can disable the autoplay function universally through the main tvOS settings, which will affect the native Apple TV app and any media played through Apple’s standard video player.
- Turn on your Apple TV and navigate to the home screen.
- Open the Settings app (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and select Apps.
- Under the “App Settings” section, click on TV (this represents the core Apple TV application).
- Look for the option labeled Auto-Play Next Video.
- Click the trackpad or select button on your remote to change the setting from “On” to Off.
What Happens Now?
With this setting disabled, the Apple TV will respect the end of the episode. When the credits roll, the video will simply play to completion and then return you to the show’s main menu or the Up Next queue, waiting patiently for you to manually select the next episode when you are actually ready to watch it. Note: This setting applies to Apple’s native ecosystem. Third-party apps like Netflix or YouTube maintain their own separate, internal autoplay toggles within their specific app settings menus.