Stop videos from autoplaying

Hi there

The Web Stories format does not expose any video playback controls, as such it is not possible to have video not autoplay, which is why there is no setting for that. There are no plans to change this.

Videos always autoplay and are muted by default (not possible to autoplay otherwise). Viewers can always unmute by using the volume toggle on their phone or pressing the mute button at the top.

We’re also working on making unmuting easier to discover, by providing a set of stickers to encourage turning on sound. Here’s an example:

Hope that helps!

Thank you for your response, Pascal.
Unfortunately, your choices do not make sense to me nor do they fit my needs.

I did add icons to ask my users to unmute, but they don’t always see that. Additionally, they miss the beginning of the video.

I also want to supply them with an audio recording only, and that’s especially not possible with mute as the default option. I’ve had the beta testers of my story miss the fact that there’s a recording there at all.

I will have to embed a link to an audio recording outside of the webstory plugin, which is unfortunate for a smooth user experience.

If you like to share with me the logic behind so many limitations in what otherwise is a lovely structure of breaking down things to episodes, I’d be happy to learn.

I also want to supply them with an audio recording only, and that’s especially not possible with mute as the default option. I’ve had the beta testers of my story miss the fact that there’s a recording there at all.

Web browsers do not allow autoplaying videos with sound. That’s why we cannot support this, it’s simply not possible.

For cases like this it’s really really recommended to provide captions.

Autoplaying videos + captions are a key part of the UX for stories. If you want to learn more details about UX decisions in the Web Stories format, I suggest asking at https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml, which is where development of the Web Stories format itself happens.