Facebook videos can be very annoying when they automatically pop out into a floating player when you scroll past them in your News Feed. This floating video player covers up other posts, gets in the way of your browsing, and just generally disrupts the Facebook experience. Luckily, there are a few different ways to stop Facebook videos from popping out as you scroll.
Use the Browser Extension
One of the easiest ways to stop Facebook videos from popping out is to install a browser extension that disables the feature. There are different options available for the major browsers:
- Chrome: Use the “Facebook Video Disabler” extension
- Firefox: Use the “Disable Facebook Autoplay” extension
- Safari: Use the “Kill Facebook Autoplay” extension
These extensions will automatically prevent videos in your News Feed from going into the floating pop-out player. This provides a seamless browsing experience without any annoying interruptions from unexpected video playback.
Adjust Your News Feed Preferences
You can also stop Facebook videos from popping out by adjusting your News Feed preferences:
- Click on the 3 line “hamburger” menu in the top right corner
- Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu
- Click on “News Feed Preferences” on the left sidebar
- Uncheck the box next to “Auto-play videos”
This will disable the automatic playback of videos in your News Feed, so they won’t pop out when you scroll past them. You’ll have to manually click to play each video instead.
Use the FB Purity Browser Extension
Another option is the FB Purity browser extension. This extension gives you a lot of customization options for tailoring your Facebook experience. One of the options is to prevent videos from auto-playing in your News Feed.
To use FB Purity to stop video pop outs:
- Install the FB Purity extension for your browser
- Click the FB Purity icon in your browser toolbar
- Go to the “Newsfeed” section in the settings
- Uncheck the “Auto-play videos” option
This will override Facebook’s default setting and keep videos from popping out as you scroll. FB Purity provides many other customization options as well, so explore the settings to see what else you can tweak to your liking.
Avoid Videos in Your News Feed
One drastic option is to avoid videos entirely in your News Feed. This will guarantee no pop outs, but means missing videos from your friends and Pages.
You can accomplish this by:
- Clicking the 3 dots above any video post
- Selecting “Hide all from [Page/Person]”
Do this consistently whenever videos appear in your feed and eventually Facebook’s algorithm will learn not to show them to you as frequently.
Additionally, you can use the “Unfollow” option to unfollow friends or Pages that post a lot of videos that you don’t want cluttering up your feed.
Change Video Settings on Mobile
If you browse Facebook on your phone and want to stop videos popping out, there are settings you can adjust in the Facebook app.
On iPhone:
- Go to your Settings app
- Scroll down and tap on Facebook
- Toggle off “Auto-Play Videos”
This will prevent videos from starting to play as you scroll past them.
On Android:
- Open the Facebook app
- Tap the 3 lines menu icon
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Media and Contacts
- Toggle off “Autoplay Videos”
Again, this will stop videos from playing automatically as you scroll.
Use Facebook Lite
Facebook Lite is a stripped down version of the Facebook app that uses less data and is designed for slower connections. As an added bonus, videos do not autoplay or pop out in Facebook Lite.
You can download Facebook Lite from:
- The App Store for iOS
- Google Play Store for Android
When using Facebook Lite, you’ll notice videos don’t start playing or go full screen as you scroll past them. This creates a much calmer News Feed reading experience.
Bookmark Videos For Later
If you find videos popping out that you do want to watch but don’t have time for at the moment, you can bookmark them for later rather than having them interrupt your scrolling. Just click the bookmark icon on the video to save it.
To see your bookmarked videos later:
- On desktop: Click the bookmark icon in the toolbar
- On mobile: Tap the menu icon and go to Bookmarks
This will at least prevent videos from disrupting your News Feed browsing right away. You can watch them on your own time when you’re ready.
Conclusion
Facebook videos popping out can be intrusive and annoying, but luckily there are many ways to stop this from happening. The easiest options are using a browser extension or changing your News Feed settings. But you can also avoid videos entirely, switch to Facebook Lite, or bookmark videos for later viewing.
Try out some of these methods to take control over your Facebook video experience. Soon you’ll be able to scroll freely without any surprise video pop outs interrupting your News Feed.