WITH OUR FACEBOOK feeds filled to the brim with videos of friends (and friends of friends) doing the ice-bucket challenge, you may have noticed something a little different with them.

For most videos, they play automatically when you view them in the feed. That’s because Facebook auto-plays videos that are uploaded onto the site instead of elsewhere like YouTube.

While the reason for so many of these videos appearing is down to a very worthy cause, viewing numerous auto-play videos will mean you’re using more data on your phone and in the worst case scenario, this could lead to a significant bill.

To prevent that from happening, here’s how you can switch them off entirely, or only allow them to play when you have a WiFi connection.

(Note: you have to switch off videos in desktop and the iOS/Android app separately)

Android

You will have to go into the Facebook app itself to switch it off. Go into the menu and look for ‘App settings.’ When you select it, you will see an option for auto-play where you can select an option.

iPhone

Instead of going into the Facebook app, you will need to go into settings instead. Scroll down to find Facebook and tap on settings. There you will see Auto-Play where you can choose an option.

Windows Phone

Since the Facebook app is made by Microsoft and not Facebook, auto-play videos aren’t supported on it. Therefore, there’s no option to change them on Windows Phone.

Desktop

The easiest one to switch off. Either click on this link, or go into settings and select the video tab on the left.

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