Best Way to Enable Sound in Web Games and Apps Disabled by Latest Google Chrome Update
Google’s latest update for Chrome made big changes to how the browser handles autoplaying videos, but it now causes a lot of audio issues in various web apps and games.
For most people, Google’s change is a good fix: videos can still be played, but Chrome turns them off by default (many are). As Chrome learns your habits , it allows you to automatically play videos with sound when you visit sites you actively interact with. This problem can still be solved manually if you hate being surprised by the noise.
However, Chrome’s new mute capabilities also break some web games and apps, disabling them entirely. Until the developers customize their apps (or until Google configures Chrome to automatically mute), there are a few workarounds you’ll have to use to get your audio back.
To say that some game developers are pissed off would be an understatement:
How to restore sounds for some web games and applications
Before we get into the workarounds, here’s a quick example of a Chrome problem in action. Download this game in the latest version of Chrome – believe me, it’s fun. In other browsers, the game sounds like this:
In Chrome, however, you will notice that Darkest Castle sounds like silence . And there is no simple setting in Chrome that you can use to trigger the sound in the game, even if you click the lock icon to the left of the website address in your browser. If you want to fully enjoy the game, you’ll have to switch to a different browser or try one or two tricky workarounds.
Option 1: Change the Chrome Autoplay Policy
As Reddit user dirtynj points out , one way to enable audio playback in your favorite (mute) web games and apps is to configure Chrome’s autorun policy in its experimental features. Bring up this url in Chrome browser: chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy
Click the “Autorun Policy” drop-down menu and change it to “No User Gestures Required.” Use the button in the bottom right corner to restart your browser, and magically, yours should reappear in most (if not all) web apps and games you visit frequently.
Option 2. Install the extension for the workaround
If the Experimental option disappears or stops working, you can also try turning on the sound using a simple extension that you will have to install manually.
Go to the Github page to enable audio . After you have downloaded the content of the extension (green button) and followed the instructions to install it – and they are pretty simple – you will see a new pizza icon next to the Chrome omnibar. (Don’t ask.)
Now, when you visit a web game or apps that have Chrome muted, a number may appear on the pizza icon. If so, this is good news for you. Click on the icon and the sound of the site will magically reappear. In some cases, you may even get a pop-up in the lower right corner of your Chrome browser, which you can also click to unmute for a web app or game.
Option 3. Fix the bug with the developers (or hosts) of your application or game.
In some cases, the site hosting your favorite web app or game may be able to run a generic workaround to play sounds in Chrome – no browser tweaks or extensions required. For example, on itch.io, you can now enable a new “click to play” option that restores audio for every game on the site.
To enable this feature, open your account settings by clicking the arrow next to your username in the upper right corner of the itch.io website. Once there, scroll down until you see the “Require click to start embedding HTML5 game” option. Turn this on, save your settings, and you’ll restore your audio experience for the entire site.
Other developers, such as those working on Soundslice – a fun way to sync audio (or video) with the notes of a song – have also worked behind the scenes to deploy workarounds for Chrome’s auto-mute workarounds. For some developers, however, going back to older apps or games to find workarounds for their game apps is a headache at best: