How to Stop Videos from Automatically Playing on Kindle Fire

You might think that there’s a master switch to prevent all the videos on the Kindle Fire from automatically playing, but there’s no such thing. In fact, you need to turn off the autoplay for each individual app or service you’re using.

Going into each app and changing the settings might be annoying, but you only need to do it once. The following article outlines the necessary steps to prevent autoplay on Amazon Video, YouTube, Facebook, and Netflix.

Without further ado, let’s dive right in.

Stopping Autoplay on Amazon Video

Step 1

Go to Amazon via a browser and log into your account, then click or tap on the Accounts & Lists to access the drop-down menu.

Step 2

Select “Your Video Library” and click or tap the Menu button in the upper right corner of the screen to reveal the drop-down window. Now, select Settings and you’ll be prompted to provide the account password to access the Settings menu.

Step 3

Click or tap the Playback tab and the first option you can see is the “Auto Play”. Select Off and you’ll get a notification that your preferences have been saved.

Things to Consider

This preference should sync across all your Amazon devices. But if you watch Amazon videos on your iPad, for example, you might need to launch the app on the tablet and disable “Auto Play” again.

Some users might see Player Preferences instead of the Playback tab. The Player Preferences section is usually at the bottom of the Settings window. One way or the other, the action is the same – you click on Off and that’s it.

How to Stop Autoplay on YouTube

Stopping autoplay on YouTube is always one tap away. Newer Kindle Fine tablets come with the YouTube app preinstalled and you just need to sign in and tap one button. Here are the required actions.

Assuming you’ve already signed in, launch the YouTube app and tap on any video to start the playback. You’ll see the autoplay button on the right side of the screen just under the video playback window. Tap on that button to toggle it off and you’re good to go.

Note

YouTube preferences are linked to your account and the changes should sync across devices. You should know that this action only stops the next video from playing. However, the thumbnail playback will still continue as you browse the video feed.

To stop thumbnail playback, tap on your profile icon within the YouTube app and select Settings. Swipe down to the “Autoplay” tab and tap the “Autoplay on Home” option.

There are three options to choose from: “Always on”, “Wi-Fi only”, and “Off”. Tap on “Off” to checkmark the preference and the autoplay will stop.

How to Stop Autoplay on Facebook

Changing the autoplay preferences on Facebook is pretty similar to YouTube. However, the app layout is a bit different so it pays to take a closer look at the exact steps. Of course, the following steps assume you’ve installed Facebook on your Fire and logged into the app.

Step 1

Launch the Facebook app and tap on the hamburger icon to access the More menu. The icon is located in the upper left or the lower right corner of the screen.

Step 2

Swipe down to the bottom of the menu and tap on Settings & Privacy, then select just Settings. Navigate down and tap Videos and Photos under Media and Contacts.

Step 3

Select Autoplay under Video Settings and choose one of the options. By default, “On Mobile Data and Wi-Fi Connections” is checked. To stop autoplay altogether, tick the “Never Autoplay Videos” option.

Interesting Fact: Did you know that Facebook automatically stops autoplay when your battery is low. This applies to Kindle Fire or any other mobile or tablet device.

How to Stop Autoplay on Netflix

Step 1

Launch the Netflix app and tap the Profiles icon, then select Account. Navigate down to My Profile under the My Account menu, here you’ll be able to see Playback Settings.

Step 2

Tap Playback Settings, tap on “Play next episode automatically” (the option is under “Auto-Play”) to uncheck it. Then you hit Save to confirm the changes and the preferences will be reflected across all connected devices.

General Tips

As you can see, autoplay settings are app-based, rather than device-based and this applies to Kindle Fire and any other tablet or smartphone. This isn’t going to change with a firmware update since third-party developers need to provide account and user-centric settings for privacy and security reasons.

The silver lining is that the required actions and menu’s verbiage is pretty similar across different apps and services. This means you can use the steps in this article to disable autoplay on other apps as well.

No Moving Pictures

When all is said and done, disabling autoplay on your Kindle Fire is easy and it might help you prevent binging.

But why do you want to stop videos from automatically playing? Are you annoyed with the autoplay feature on certain apps? Give us your two cents in the comments section below.