- Android users have noticed a test that autoplays the first video of your feed when you open the YouTube app
- Users have expressed their negative feelings online with some sharing tips and solutions to avoid this
- This is another of YouTube’s recent experimental features and follows the Platform’s ‘Recommended Videos’ list in the app’s playback queue
Usually, when YouTube implements new experimental features, you can see them from a mile away. However, the Video Latform has been quite discreet and sneaky with its latest test, and some users have noticed that it has automatically played the first video in their feed when they open the Android version of the app.
Over the past month or so, several Android users have reported their experiences with this strange autoplay feature, and while most people thought it was a mistake at first, it turns out to be intentional from YouTube. To say that people are frustrated is an understatement and they have not thrown themselves away from expressing their feelings in countless Reddit threads.
Video is played when I open app from R/YouTube
“I opened my YouTube app on my Samsung phone today and it immediately started playing a video. I checked that AutoPlay was disabled and restarted the app, and it didn’t get anything,” said a user on Reddit who attracted a list of answers from other Android users with the same problem.
There is an existing YouTube feature that you can activate to automatically play videos one after the other, and this can easily be turned off in your settings, but one of the most annoying parts of YouTube’s Mystery AutoPlay test is that it is not that simple to avoid. Fortunately, users who have experienced this problem have found a way to stop this by uninstalling the app’s latest update or by clearing their data and cache.
YouTube is in an era of experimentation
It’s an interesting time for YouTube that seems to perform a new test every week. AutoLaying videos are just one of a cluster of experiments that can result in new features for the app, for better or for worse.
Other recent tests point to the possible arrival of new features for YouTube Premium subscribers, including a feature that allows you to control sound quality in videos, as well as a new time-saving fringe estate showing that you recommended content directly in your playback queue. YouTube has also tested a solution for subscriber notifications, and while this may be a blessing to users, it can be a great risk to creators.
