How do I stop Facebook from popping up Sounds?

Facebook Sounds refers to various audio clips that play automatically in the Facebook app when you scroll through your feed or view Stories. These can include short music clips, sound effects, and audio snippets from videos. By default, Facebook has auto-play enabled for these sounds.

When you scroll through your feed, Facebook will automatically play the audio from any videos that appear. Similarly, when viewing Facebook Stories, the app plays the audio associated with each Story you view. Facebook introduced these auto-playing sounds as an immersive new feature to make the app feel more lively and engaging.

However, many users find the constant sounds distracting or annoying, especially in quiet environments. Thankfully, Facebook provides controls to disable audio auto-play and customize which sounds you hear in the app. This guide will walk through the various settings to stop sounds from automatically playing in Facebook.

Understanding Facebook’s Auto-Play Settings

Facebook’s default setting is to auto-play videos in your News Feed with sound on. This means that as you scroll through your feed, videos will automatically start playing with sound without you needing to click them. The auto-play function applies to videos posted by friends, ads, Pages you follow, and Facebook Watch videos.

According to Facebook’s Help Center, auto-play for in-Feed videos occurs when: https://www.facebook.com/help/1406493312950827

You have the Videos in News Feed setting turned on

You have listened to a video for more than 3 seconds
You have interacted with the Page or person’s post in the past

So if you tend to watch a lot of videos in your feed or engage frequently with certain Pages or friends who post videos, Facebook will use that info to determine which videos auto-play for you.

Disabling Auto-Play in Facebook App

To disable autoplay videos in the Facebook mobile app, you need to adjust your settings. The steps are slightly different depending on if you are using an iOS or Android device.

On iOS

To turn off autoplay videos in the Facebook app on an iPhone or iPad:

Open the Facebook app and tap the three-line menu icon in the bottom right.

Scroll down and tap “Settings”.
Scroll down to “Media” and tap “Autoplay Videos”.
Tap the switch next to “Autoplay Videos on Wi-Fi” to turn it off.

This will prevent videos in your feed from playing automatically, even when connected to Wi-Fi (source).

On Android

To disable autoplay videos in the Facebook app on an Android device:

Open the Facebook app and tap the three-line menu icon in the top right.

Tap “Settings & Privacy” then “Settings”.
Tap “Media and Contacts” then “Autoplay”.
Toggle the “Autoplay Videos” switch off.

This will prevent videos from playing automatically in your feed on Android (source).

Adjusting these settings in the Facebook mobile app is the easiest way to disable autoplay and stop videos from unexpectedly playing sound when scrolling through your feed.

Stopping Auto-Play on Desktop

One of the easiest ways to stop auto-play videos and sounds on Facebook while browsing on desktop is to use a browser extension. Browser extensions like AutoplayStopper for Chrome or Disable HTML5 Autoplay can automatically block autoplaying media on Facebook and other websites. These extensions work by preventing videos and audio from automatically starting as you scroll through your feed or visit pages on Facebook.

To use these extensions, simply install them in your Chrome, Firefox, or other desktop browser. Once installed, they will automatically block autoplay media without any additional configuration needed. This gives you control to scroll and browse Facebook without any unwanted sounds or videos disrupting you.

The extensions also allow you to customize settings, such as whitelisting certain sites or enabling/disabling autoplay blocking as needed. Overall, using a simple browser extension is one of the most effective ways to stop autoplay videos, music, and other media when browsing Facebook on a computer.

Adjusting Notification Settings

One way to stop Facebook from autoplaying sounds is to adjust your notification settings. You can control which notifications make sounds and which ones are silent.

To adjust notification settings on mobile:

Open the Facebook app and tap the hamburger menu icon in the top right.
Go to “Settings & Privacy” and select “Settings”

Tap “Notifications” and scroll down to “Sounds”
Toggle off “Default Notification Sound” to mute all Facebook notifications
You can also tap on specific notification types like “Friend Requests” or “Messages” to customize sounds for each one

On desktop:

Click the down arrow in the top right and choose “Settings”
Click “Notifications” on the left sidebar

Scroll down to “Sounds” and toggle sound settings on or off for different notification types

Turning off sound for specific notification types like videos, posts, or comments can help eliminate unwanted sounds while still allowing important alerts through.

Using Focus Mode

Focus mode is a feature that was introduced in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. It allows you to pause distracting features and notifications from certain apps [1]. When enabled, focus mode will mute sounds and notifications from most apps on your device, except for the ones you specifically allow.

To enable focus mode on iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Focus and select a pre-made focus mode or create a custom one. You can choose which apps are allowed to send notifications while focus mode is on. For example, you could create a “Work Focus” mode that mutes sounds and notifications from social media apps but allows email and work chat apps.

Once enabled, focus mode will mute sounds like video auto-play and notifications from distracting apps like Facebook. This can help minimize disturbances if you want to avoid Facebook sounds while staying focused on a task or activity. Focus mode is a useful iOS feature to limit distractions from apps like Facebook when you need to concentrate.

Limiting Sounds in Feed Preferences

You can adjust your Facebook feed preferences to limit the amount of autoplaying sounds. Here’s how:

On mobile:

Open the Facebook app and tap the three-line menu icon in the top right.
Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.

Tap Media and Autoplay.
Under Autoplay, you can toggle Videos Start With Sound to off. This will prevent videos in your feed from automatically playing with sound.

On desktop:

Click the down arrow at the top right and select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
Click Media and Autoplay on the left.
Under Autoplay, you can toggle Videos Start With Sound to off.

By disabling autoplay sounds in your feed preferences, you can browse Facebook without getting interrupted by unexpected sounds. You can toggle it back on anytime to resume autoplaying videos with sound.

Turning Off Video Auto-Play

One of the most direct ways to stop Sounds from autoplaying in your Facebook feed is to turn off video autoplay. When you disable video autoplay, Sounds will also not automatically play as you scroll through Facebook.

To turn off video autoplay on the Facebook mobile app, go to the Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Media and Contacts > Autoplay Videos. Toggle the switch next to “Autoplay Videos” to the off position. According to Facebook’s Help Center, this will prevent both videos and Sounds from autoplaying as you scroll through your feed.

On the desktop version of Facebook, click on the down arrow at the top right and choose “Settings & Privacy”>Settings>Videos and Photos. Uncheck the box next to “Autoplay videos on Facebook” to disable video and Sound autoplay as you scroll.

Turning off video autoplay is one of the simplest and most comprehensive ways to stop Sounds from playing automatically as you browse Facebook. With autoplay disabled, you’ll have full control over which videos and Sounds you want to play.

Muting Friends or Pages

If you find that a specific friend or Page is constantly posting Sounds that are cluttering up your feed, you have the option to mute them. This will prevent their posts from appearing in your feed without having to unfriend or unfollow them.

To mute someone on Facebook:

Go to their profile page
Click on the “Friends” button below their cover photo

Select “Mute [Name]” from the dropdown menu

You can mute them for 24 hours or 30 days. After muting them, you will no longer see any of their posts in your feed for the selected time period.

The same process applies for muting Pages. Go to the Page profile, click on the “Following” button, and choose “Mute Page” from the menu. The Page will not be notified when you mute them.

Muting is useful for temporarily removing clutter from your feed without fully unfollowing or unfriending someone. Just keep in mind that if you visit their profile page directly, you may still see their posts.

Sources:
https://www.androidpolice.com/mute-facebook-users/
https://www.howtogeek.com/674715/how-to-mute-someone-on-facebook/

Conclusion

In summary, there are several options for stopping Facebook from autoplaying sounds in your feed or notifications.

In the Facebook app, you can disable autoplay in the Settings menu. On desktop, you can toggle autoplay off in Feed Preferences. Adjusting notification settings is another option – you can disable certain notifications entirely or mute specific people or pages.

Using Focus Mode when you want to avoid distractions can also stop autoplaying media. And for videos in particular, you can disable autoplay in the Facebook app’s Settings.

By using one or more of these methods, you should be able to control when and how Facebook plays media in your feed, giving you a more peaceful scrolling experience.