Youtube embed autoplay on mobile

Question

I use React to set iframe with youtube video on page in correct size. All works well but for mobiles doesn't work autoplay option.

What is interesting for page, what I have as example video it works perfect.

<iframe type="text/html"  allowTransparency="true"  height="100%" width="100%" preload="metadata" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" className="autoplay-iframe"
            src={`https://www.youtube.com/embed/`+this.props.autoplay+`?autoplay=1&version=3&html5=1&hd=1&controls=0&loop=1&playlist=`+this.props.autoplay+`&playsinline=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&modestbranding=1&related=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=`+window.location.hostname} frameborder="0"></iframe>

above is my iframe code. I cut some part of iframe code but there are just style in styles attribute. It isn't important for autoplay. The same finally url for other page works. I'm not sure why. Any hints how I can solve this problem?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You will not be able to implement this, since it is intentionally disabled to all mobile devices. The reason is for the user to save cellular data. It is also cited in this post.

The reason that video autoplay doesn’t work is simple. The feature is deliberately disabled in both iOS and Android for mobile devices. The reason this is done is to save mobile users money. Such devices (especially mobile phones) often use data connections that charge by bandwidth. They have data limits and going over results in a fee.

This statement was also supported with the following SO post.

• no autoplay in iframe HTML5 player on mobile (Android Chrome and Firefox)?
• how to get embedded youtube video to autostart on iphone
• Youtube autoplay not working on mobile devices with embedded HTML5 player

Answer 2

I was able to get Youtube videos to play (without muting them). Because loading Youtube videos inline was upsetting Google and their new Core Web Vitals, we implemented a thumbnail placeholder that when clicked (jQuery) initiates loading the video using the Youtube Iframe API. I too could not get them to autoplay at first. The issue was resolved by having the API embed the Iframe--not putting the iframe in place before hand. It autoplays on iOS Safari, Chrome and Firefox. Here's what worked for me:

On document ready:

var tag = document.createElement('script');

tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);
function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady(yt_id, iframe_id, iframe_width, iframe_height){
    player = new YT.Player(iframe_id, {
        width: iframe_width,
        height: iframe_height,
        videoId: yt_id,
        playerVars: { 'autoplay': 1, 'playsinline': 1 },
            events: {
                'onReady': onPlayerReady
            }
    });
}

function onPlayerReady(event) {
    //event.target.mute();
    event.target.setVolume(70);
    event.target.playVideo();
}

---

on click event:

$('.yt_video_link').on('click', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var div_id      = $(this).attr('id');
    var div_iframe  = div_id + '_iframe';
    var yt_id       = $('#' + div_id).data('ytid');

    $('#' + div_id + ' .yt_video_play').css('display', 'none');

    onYouTubeIframeAPIReady(yt_id, div_iframe, 560, 315);

});

---

HTML:

<div id='yt_video_desktop' class='yt_video_link mobile_hide' data-ytid='<?=$yt_id?>'>
    <div id='yt_video_desktop_player' class='yt_video'>
        <img src='/catalog/images/yt_video_thumb_<?=$yt_id?>.jpg' alt='play desktop video' width='768' height='432' id='yt_video_desktop_iframe'>
    </div>
    <div class='yt_video_play'></div>
</div>