Videos autoplay inconsistently when opened in a new tab

[Saoiray]

Description

When opening videos, particularly from YouTube, in a new tab, there is inconsistent behavior. Some videos remain paused in the background, while others start playing immediately. This behavior appears random and lacks adherence to any consistent logic. A consistent and predictable action is desirable, with a preference for tabs to remain paused in the background until manually activated.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the Brave browser.
2. Navigate to YouTube.
3. Long-press on a video and choose to open it in a new tab.

Actual result

New tab opens in the background, and the video randomly either plays audio/video immediately or remains paused.

Expected result

The new tab should exhibit consistent behavior: either always remaining paused in the background or always starting playback (preference is for it to remain paused).

Reproduces how often

Intermittent issue

Brave version

1.73 (97)

Device/iOS version

• Device: iPhone 13 Pro Max

• iOS Version: 18.2

• Reported by User:

  • Device: iPad Air M2 (Q4 2024)
  • iOS Version: Latest updates
  • Affected devices include iPhone 15, iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Affected browser versions

• latest AppStore
• latest TestFlight
• previous TestFlight

Reproducibility

• with Brave Shields disabled
• in the latest version of mobile Safari

Miscellaneous information

In my testing, the issue appears more frequent in Private mode but still occurs randomly in standard browsing.

Comparison with other browsers:

• Safari: New tab opens on top and starts playing immediately.
• Chrome: New tab opens in the background and does not autoplay.

Originally reported by a user on the Brave Community:
https://community.brave.com/t/youtube-links-opened-in-background-tabs-start-autoplaying-despite-autoplay-being-off/588815

[shevernitskiy]

The video pauses when the YouTube anti-adblock script is triggered. You may not see the popup itself (because it is blocked), but the pause is triggered.

[Saoiray]

The video pauses when the YouTube anti-adblock script is triggered. You may not see the popup itself (because it is blocked), but the pause is triggered.

This is not the issue and unlikely plays a part in this bug report at all. As indicated in the Reproducibility section, this happens even with Shields disabled and private window/mode.

For me, the more common behavior is that videos don't even start playing right away. They stay paused. It's just every once in a while it starts playing the video/music right away even when shouldn't. The person on topic I linked to is saying they have this issue of it playing right away more often.

[hffvld]

I wasn't able to reproduce this issue. Every time I open the video in the background, it pauses automatically.

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Verified on iPhone 14 using version(s):

Device/OS: iPhone 14 / iOS 17.7.2
Brave build: 1.73 (97)
BraveCore: 1.73.97 (131.0.6778.108)

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STEPS:

1. Follow the STR/TP from Videos autoplay inconsistently when opened in a new tab #43049 (comment)
2. Verify

ACTUAL RESULTS:

• Verified that the video always paused when opening it in the background.

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2025-01-06_11-30-23.mp4

[Uni-verse]

It reproduces for me on iPhone 12 running iOS 18.2 using 1.73 (97) following STR mentioned in #43049 (comment)

Observed behavior: Intermittently pauses or plays video in new tab.

[JusticeForBeyonce]

I also have this issue, and think it is also the cause of high battery drain I sometimes see.

When opening a youtube tink normally it always autoplays.

If I open in a new tab then switch to it straight away it doesn’t autoplay.

If I open in a new tab but wait long enough for the tab to be unloaded from memory then switch to it, it autoplays due to reloading the page. This also happens when closing and re-opening the app or switching tabs.

Sometimes it autoplays immediately when opening in a new tab. I don’t always notice because the video is automatically muted but still plays. I know it autoplays because when I switch to the tab it’s already got to the end of the video. Previously it used to not automatically mute and I would get the audio in the background on my iPhone 13 mini, and I currently have that on my iPad 11.

On my iPad I also sometimes get the video audio start playing in a background tab long after I opened it, like it’s refreshing the page in the background or something.

Whether related or not I also get the ghost audio sometimes that I’ve seen others mention where audio keeps playing after a youtube tab has been closed. Unsure if that is brave specific and not been able to test yet due to being intermittent.

[AdamantConlanger]

For me, videos only start playing automatically when opening them in a new window, not when opening them in a new tab. Entering a youtube link in the search bar directly doesn't start the video automatically either.

[JusticeForBeyonce]

@AdamantConlanger

Did you mis the iOS tag? I know ipad has the open in new window option, but given the uncommon use case I’m doubtful thats what you mean.

[JusticeForBeyonce]

Today I had three videos start playing in the background by themselves all at once…

It also seems that every video i open whether in the current tab or in a background tab will start playing right away.

I don’t want this. We need an option for ‘don’t play media automatically’ and for it to be the default. (No this is not the same as youtube’s ‘autoplay’ feature before someone ‘helpfully’ suggests that for the n’th time)

It also will usually mute videos in the background tabs which is a pain because by the time I’ve unmuted it i need to rewind.

Today however when I went to record a screen capture of the issue I found that it wasn’t auto muting videos in background tabs despite usually doing that. Not sure whether that’s because I did it in private browsing?

[JusticeForBeyonce]

Screenrecording.05-29-2025.mp4