If You Don’t Want To Automatically Hear Every Video On Facebook, Simply Change This One Setting

Facebook Exhibits Technologies At Innovation Hub
Getty Images | Sean Gallup

It’s an unwritten rule that just as soon as you get used to the most recent version, Facebook changes something else. From status updates to subtle changes to the news feed algorithm to basically unleashing the scourge of fake news on society, the social media giant has kept us all on our toes for years.

The latest change affects how videos will appear and perform on Facebook—and you’re probably not going to like it.

Consumerist is reporting that Facebook’s latest “customer experience” upgrade is basically just going to make everything louder.

Until now, videos in your news feeds begin playing automatically, but with the sound muted. That way, if you want to hear the audio, you can stop and tap the video to turn it on. Otherwise, you can just keep scrolling on by in blissful silence.

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No more, according to an announcement from Facebook earlier this week. If your phone volume is on, videos will now play automatically, with sound.

This means scrolling through your feed will now be kind of like a high-tech Doppler effect. As you scroll toward a video, the volume will rise, then fade out as you keep going past it.

So what’s the best way to deal with this new “upgrade” without losing your mind?

One option is to just keep your phone on silent. According to Facebook’s statement, if your phone’s volume is set to silent, videos will still autoplay, but without any sound.

If your phone doesn’t like to live a silent life though, there’s another way to manually disable this feature. Consumerist explains how to do this on either iPhones or Android devices:

  • On Apple (iOS) devices, find the setting under Settings > Account Settings > Sounds, then use the toggle to disable “Videos in News Feed Start With Sound.”
  • On Android devices, select “App Settings” and then scroll down to “Videos in News Feed Start With Sound” and toggle off.

If you don’t see these options in your settings, that just means this update hasn’t gotten to you yet. Don’t worry, it’ll show up soon—but at least now you know how to avoid it upon arrival.

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And if you’re part of the 70 percent of people that Facebook insists don’t mind their phone yelling at them at random times, then go right ahead and enjoy this loud new feature!

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