YouTube is designed to keep you watching for as long as possible. One of the most effective ways it achieves this is through the “Autoplay” feature. As soon as the video you are watching finishes, a countdown timer appears, and YouTube automatically loads and plays a related video chosen by its algorithm.
While this is great for discovering new music or falling down a rabbit hole of documentaries, it can be incredibly annoying if you only wanted to watch a single, specific tutorial. Leaving a tab open in the background only to have sudden, unexpected audio blast through your speakers is a common frustration.
Fortunately, turning off this feature is very simple. In this guide, we will show you how to disable YouTube autoplay permanently on both your desktop browser and the mobile app.
How to Turn Off YouTube Autoplay on Desktop
If you are watching YouTube on a laptop or desktop computer using a web browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Edge), the setting is located directly within the video player itself.
- Open your web browser and go to YouTube.com.
- Click on any video to begin playing it.
- Hover your mouse over the video to reveal the playback controls at the bottom of the video player.
- Look for a small toggle switch icon near the bottom-right corner. It is located just to the left of the closed captions (CC) and settings (gear) icons.
- If the switch has a “Play” symbol inside it and is highlighted, Autoplay is On.
- Click the switch. The symbol will change to a “Pause” icon, and a brief notification will appear at the top of the screen confirming that Autoplay is off.
Because this setting is tied to your Google account, it will remain turned off for all future videos you watch on this computer while logged in.
How to Turn Off YouTube Autoplay on the Mobile App
The process on the YouTube mobile app (for both iPhone and Android) is nearly identical, making it easy to save your mobile data allowance from being wasted on videos you did not intend to watch.
- Open the YouTube app on your smartphone or tablet.
- Tap on any video to start watching.
- Tap anywhere on the video screen to reveal the playback controls.
- Look at the very top of the video player. You will see a small toggle switch with a “Play” icon inside it.
- Tap this switch. It will immediately slide to the left, displaying a “Pause” icon.
- A small banner will briefly appear at the bottom of your screen saying Autoplay is off.
How to Stop Videos from Autoplaying in the Home Feed (Mobile)
There is a second type of autoplay on mobile devices that many users find distracting: videos silently playing by themselves as you simply scroll through your Home feed.
This is called “Playback in feeds,” and it can also consume a significant amount of data and battery life. Here is how to disable it:
- Open the YouTube app and ensure you are on the Home screen.
- Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner (or top-right on older versions).
- Tap the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner.
- Tap on General.
- Tap on Playback in feeds.
- A pop-up menu will appear with three options: Always on, Wi-Fi only, or Off. Select Off.
Now, as you scroll through your YouTube feed, the thumbnails will remain static images, giving you a much calmer and less distracting browsing experience.
