Youtube autoplay not working on mobile devices with embedded HTML5 player

Solution 1:

As it turns out, autoplay cannot be done on iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) and Android.

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/8142187/2054512 and https://stackoverflow.com/a/3056220/2054512

Solution 2:

Have a look on code below. Tested and found working on Mobile and Tablet devices.

<!-- 1. The <iframe> (video player) will replace this <div> tag. -->
<div id="player"></div>

<script>
  // 2. This code loads the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
  var tag = document.createElement('script');

  tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
  var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
  firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);

  // 3. This function creates an <iframe> (and YouTube player)
  //    after the API code downloads.
  var player;
  function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
    player = new YT.Player('player', {
      height: '390',
      width: '640',
      videoId: 'M7lc1UVf-VE',
      events: {
        'onReady': onPlayerReady,
        'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
      }
    });
  }

  // 4. The API will call this function when the video player is ready.
  function onPlayerReady(event) {
    event.target.playVideo();
  }

  // 5. The API calls this function when the player's state changes.
  //    The function indicates that when playing a video (state=1),
  //    the player should play for six seconds and then stop.
  var done = false;
  function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
    if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PLAYING && !done) {
      setTimeout(stopVideo, 6000);
      done = true;
    }
  }
  function stopVideo() {
    player.stopVideo();
  }
</script>

Solution 3:

The code below was tested on iPhone, iPad (iOS13), Safari (Catalina). It was able to autoplay the YouTube video on all devices. Make sure the video is muted and the playsinline parameter is on. Those are the magic parameters that make it work.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=2.0, minimum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes">
    </head>
  <body>
<!-- 1. The <iframe> (video player) will replace this <div> tag. -->
<div id="player"></div>

<script>
  // 2. This code loads the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
  var tag = document.createElement('script');

  tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
  var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
  firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);

  // 3. This function creates an <iframe> (and YouTube player)
  //    after the API code downloads.
  var player;
  function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
    player = new YT.Player('player', {
      width: '100%',
      videoId: 'osz5tVY97dQ',
      playerVars: { 'autoplay': 1, 'playsinline': 1 },
      events: {
        'onReady': onPlayerReady
      }
    });
  }

  // 4. The API will call this function when the video player is ready.
  function onPlayerReady(event) {
     event.target.mute();
    event.target.playVideo();
  }
</script>
  </body>
</html>

Solution 4:

Preview The official statement "Due to this restriction, functions and parameters such as autoplay, playVideo(), loadVideoById() won't work in all mobile environments.

Reference: https://developers.google.com/youtube/iframe_api_reference

Solution 5:

There is a way to make youtube autoplay, and complete playlists play through. Get Adblock browser for Android, and then go to the youtube website, and and configure it for the desktop version of the page, close Adblock browser out, and then reopen, and you will have the desktop version, where autoplay will work.

Using the desktop version will also mean that AdBlock will work. The mobile version invokes the standalone YouTube player, which is why you want the desktop version of the page, so that autoplay will work, and so ad blocking will work.