How to Disable Autoplay on Every Streaming Service
Whatever streaming service you use, you can be sure that the people behind it will do their best to keep you watching for as long as possible. Even five more seconds of viewing time per day adds up quickly in the long run when you’re talking about millions of viewers, not to mention ad-supported accounts.
However, this may result in a poor user experience. There you are, engrossed in the final moments of a show or movie, and before you know what’s going on, you’re thrown into the next episode or shown an ad for another show altogether.
X’s post below is a particularly egregious example, as the final moments of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho are rudely interrupted by a commercial for The Big Bang Theory . Personally, I have nothing against The Big Bang Theory, but it certainly ruins the mood that Hitchcock was trying to create.
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Unfortunately, the extent to which you can control this kind of nonsense depends on what streaming service you use, and it’s not always possible to turn it off completely. That said, here’s what’s possible on the most popular streaming apps.
How to disable autoplay on Netflix
Netflix will quickly show you something else you might want to watch when the show or movie ends. Depending on what you’re watching, you can choose View Credits or click or tap back into the minimized credits window to continue watching to the end.
As for autoplay, this should only happen with consecutive episodes of TV shows. To stop it online, hover over your account avatar (top right), then select Manage Profiles , then your profile, and uncheck Autoplay next episode of series on all devices .
On the mobile app, you need to tap My Netflix , then the menu button (three lines in the top right corner): From there, select My Profile , select your profile, and you’ll see a toggle switch to automatically play the next episode .
How to disable autorun on Max
Like other services, Max automatically shrinks shows and movies on your screen as they finish. There’s no setting to turn this off: all you can do is select the minimized window again to return it to full-screen mode.
With TV shows, you may see an on-screen hint about the next episode when you’re nearing the end of your viewing, and if you’re fast enough, you can select this to cancel it. To permanently disable this feature on your computer, click your profile icon (top right), then Settings & Playing and turn off auto-playing next episode on this device .
In the Max mobile apps, meanwhile, you need to tap your profile picture (top right), then the gear icon (top right), and you’ll find a toggle switch for “Automatically play the next episode on this device” in the Play menu.
How to disable autoplay on Disney+
On Disney+, once you reach the credits at the end of a show or movie, they’ll roll up so you can be promoted to something else. The only way to continue viewing the credits is to click or tap the minimized window to bring it back. Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about it.
You get a little more control when it comes to stopping consecutive episodes of a TV show from playing. On the web, click your account profile picture (top right), then select Edit Profiles and your profile, and turn off AutoPlay .
If you’re using the mobile app, it’s much the same process: tap your profile picture (bottom right), then Edit Profiles and your profile, and you’ll see the AutoPlay toggle again, which you can turn off.
How to disable autoplay on Hulu
If you use Hulu, you have the same problem as everywhere else: you can’t stop the end credits and ending scenes from collapsing. All you can do is select the reduced window again to restore it.
However, there is a setting you can access to stop the next episode of a TV show or recommended movie from automatically downloading. On the Internet, click the gear icon (bottom left) while you’re watching something and turn off autoplay .
If you’re in the Hulu apps on your mobile phone, tap Account (bottom right), then select Settings and turn off the AutoPlay toggle. Note that these settings are device specific, so you’ll have to do this wherever you’re looking.
How to disable autoplay on Apple TV+
The annoying behavior demonstrated in X’s post earlier in this article is the work of Apple TV+. Unfortunately, other than selecting a minimized window to enlarge it again, there’s nothing you can do about these promotions. Perhaps if we all write to Tim Cook about this problem, something will change.
What you can do is prevent the next episodes and promotional trailers from automatically starting after you’ve finished watching something. If you’re in the macOS app, open the TV menu and select Settings , then turn off Autoplay next video in the General tab.
If you’re using Apple TV+ on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to go to the main Settings app, then select Apps & TV . Scroll down and you’ll see an Autoplay next video toggle that you can turn off.
How to disable autoplay on Amazon Prime Video
Finally, we have Amazon Prime Video. As you might expect at this point, you can’t prevent the end of shows and movies (usually the credits) from zooming out – all you can do is select them as soon as they do to re-zoom them in.
As for automatically playing the next episode of a series after you’ve finished the current one, there are a few things you can do: On the web, click your account profile picture (top right), then Account & Settings , then Player , and toggle off autostart .
If you’re using the Prime Video apps for Android or iOS, you’ll need to tap your account profile picture (top right) and then tap the gear icon on the next screen (top right again). This will take you to the autoplay toggle switch.