One of the most annoying things about life online these days is autoplay. YouTube isn't immune from this issue. The Google-owned platform has determined that, after we watch a video that we have actively chosen, we want to see something else we had no hand in picking. YouTube chooses the follow-up videos that play automatically based on your viewing history, so there's a decent chance that you'll be interested in watching what the feature bubbles up. And if you're using YouTube videos as background noise, you might be totally cool with autoplay.

However, it's okay just to stop playing videos after we've seen the ones we actually want to watch. It's not exactly a secret as to why autoplay is enabled on YouTube by default (at least for adult users). The more videos that the service shows you, the more ads it can run and the more it can pad parent company Alphabet's bottom line. However, you can simply say no to autoplay in just a few steps. If you prefer to let videos autoplay, we'll show you how to keep that setting on too.

There are a few things worth noting about autoplay. You can have it enabled on some devices and off on others. On mobile and tablet apps, tap the toggle at the top of the video player. If you see a pause icon, autoplay is disabled. The opposite is true if a play icon is displayed. You can also go to your profile, then Settings, then Playback, and toggle "Autoplay next video." On a PC or laptop, use the toggle at the bottom of the video player. For TVs and game consoles, go to your profile, Settings, and select the "Autoplay next video" option.

Autoplay is disabled by default for users aged 13-17. Parents can disable it on supervised accounts. If watching on a mobile network, autoplay stops after 30 minutes; on Wi-Fi, it ceases after four hours.