Instagram recently tweaked the behavior of sound in autoplaying videos, as well as the manner in which such clips are managed by users, the company confirmed on Saturday. Following what’s presumed to be a server-side update which rolled out earlier this month, turning on the sound of any autoplaying video results in an app-wide command which unmutes all such clips on your Instagram feed, albeit the change is only temporary and tied to individual sessions, the Facebook-owned social media platform said. If you turn on the sound of some autoplaying video and şubsequently turn it off or mute another clip, the switch will also apply to all other content on your feed. Exiting and re-entering the app will reset this behavior, with all autoplaying videos having their sound turned off by default, the company revealed.
The change was seemingly made to facilitate the process of browsing Instagram for users who occasionally want to hear the videos they’re watching while still not affecting those who prefer to have their clips autoplay without sound by default; instead of turning on audio for each individual piece of content, users are now able to unmute all of the content on their feed with a single tap if they want to experience videos in their entirety, with the new mechanism acting as an alternative to settling on a single default audio state of autoplaying clips. Videos served within Instagram Stories will still act like they did before the latest update, i.e. they’ll adhere to the system-wide sound settings of your device, the company confirmed.
Instagram has been relatively busy in recent months, with the firm developing and introducing a variety of new features for its service including support for Stories in Direct Messages and bringing the same Snapchat-inspired media format to the browser version of its social media platform. The service is still growing at a steady pace and is working toward hitting one billion users next year, largely backed by a broad range of various Internet celebrities who prefer it over its main rival Snapchat. Instagram has been placing an increasingly large focus on video content in recent years, with its latest tweak to autoplaying clips now seemingly solving many related pet peeves of its users.