# How do you stop YouTube videos from playing automatically? — SubSense Last reviewed: October 4, 2026. HTML version: https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/stop-youtube-videos-from-automatically-playing/ **YouTube has two kinds of automatic playback, and each has its own switch.** The first starts the next video when one finishes: “When Autoplay is on, another related video will automatically play after a video ends” (*YouTube Help: Autoplay videos*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en). The second starts videos while you scroll Home and search results; YouTube calls it the inline player, and on a phone its setting is named **Playback in feeds** (*YouTube Help: Use the inline player*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7640367?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid). The two are documented on separate help pages with separate settings, so switching off one leaves the other running. ## Turn off Autoplay, the next-video kind The steps from YouTube's Autoplay page, by device (*YouTube Help: Autoplay videos*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en): - **Phone or tablet, from a video.** Open the watch screen; “At the top of the video player, tap the Autoplay switch to set it to On or Off.” - **Phone or tablet, from settings.** Tap your profile picture, then **Settings**, then **Autoplay**, and switch it off. The page gives identical steps for Android and iOS. - **Computer.** On the watch screen, “At the bottom of the video player, click the Autoplay switch.” - **The YouTube app on a TV.** Open the app, go to **Settings**, scroll to **Autoplay** and choose Off. - **Casting from your phone.** Tap the control bar at the bottom of the screen to expand the queue, and “Use the switch to turn Autoplay off.” - **A Google Assistant Smart Display.** This one is changed from your phone: in the Home app, tap the display, then **Settings** › **Notifications & digital wellbeing** › **YouTube Settings**. ## Why it came back on the other screen The setting belongs to the device rather than to your account. The help says so in an example: you can set Autoplay to “On” in the YouTube app on your mobile device but “Off” when watching on your computer (*YouTube Help: Autoplay videos*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en). So a phone, a laptop and a TV each need their own pass. For a single evening rather than for good, the same page offers two lighter options. At the end of a video, tap **Cancel** to stop the next one. And the player holds back on its own if you are busy: “If you scroll past the video player or type something, like a comment or a search, the next video won't automatically play.” It also stops by itself eventually. On mobile data, Autoplay halts after you have been inactive for 30 minutes; on Wi-Fi, it stops after 4 hours (same page). ## Stop videos playing as you scroll If videos start while you are still scrolling, this is the setting to change. YouTube describes the behaviour: as you scroll Home and search results, “videos will begin to play on mute with captions auto-enabled,” and the inline player “may be on by default when you're using either Wi-Fi or mobile data” (*YouTube Help: Use the inline player*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7640367?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid). - **Phone.** Profile picture › **Settings** › **General** › **Playback in feeds**, then pick **Always on**, **Wi-Fi only** or **Off**. The iPhone version of the page gives the same path (*YouTube Help: Use the inline player, iPhone version*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7640367?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS). - **Computer.** Profile picture › **Settings** › **Playback and performance**, then turn **Inline playback** off. With it off, the computer page says, “you can only watch 3-second video previews” (*YouTube Help: Use the inline player, computer version*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7640367?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop). Two details from the same pages are worth knowing. A feed preview can count as viewing: the help warns that a video watched for “a certain amount of time while browsing” may be added to your watch history. And on some phones the decision is partly made for you — “autoplay previews are turned off on some devices and formats,” to save battery and keep scrolling smooth. *Our suggestion:* if the worry is mobile data rather than distraction, **Wi-Fi only** is the middle setting the phone page offers, and it keeps previews where they cost nothing. ## Teen and supervised accounts For users aged 13 to 17, YouTube says “Autoplay is turned off by default,” though they can switch it on; on a supervised account the option may be missing if a parent has turned Autoplay off (*YouTube Help: Autoplay videos*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en). Parents do that from **Family Center**: select the child's profile or account and switch **Disable autoplay** on. “Your child can’t turn on Autoplay when this setting is on” (*YouTube Help: Parental controls & conversation topics for supervised kid accounts on YouTube*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13877231?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid). ## What neither switch covers The Autoplay page does not mention Shorts at all, so it does not tell you whether its switch affects the Shorts feed (*YouTube Help: Autoplay videos*, read 4 October 2026 — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en). The controls YouTube does document for Shorts are on [our page about turning off Shorts](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/stop-shorts-on-youtube/). The Autoplay page also gives no steps for YouTube in a phone's web browser; its mobile instructions are for the app. Even with both switches off, the Home feed still decides what to put in front of you. If the videos themselves are the problem rather than the fact that they start playing, [resetting your recommendations](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/reset-youtube-recommendations/) is the lever, and when a few busy channels fill the screen, [that has its own fix](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/why-one-channel-floods-my-youtube-feed/). Related: [Can you turn off Shorts on YouTube?](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/stop-shorts-on-youtube/) · [How to reset your YouTube recommendations](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/reset-youtube-recommendations/) · [Can you watch YouTube without subscribing?](https://www.subsenseapp.com/answers/watch-youtube-without-subscribing/)