how to auto play a video on home screen

Topic summary

Goal: autoplay a homepage video in Shopify’s Dawn theme without requiring a click.

Key steps proposed:

  • Edit themes > code > sections/video.liquid. Around line 106, render the video with Liquid’s video_tag:
    • Set autoplay: true, muted: true, loop: section.settings.enable_video_looping.
    • Toggle controls: true/false depending on desired UI.
  • Alternative attempt: add custom code before in theme.liquid (led to a black screen for the requester).
  • Another suggestion: add additional code at the top of sections/video.liquid (exact snippet not visible in thread). Screenshots were provided to guide file location and placement.

Browser behavior:

  • Reported to work on Firefox and Safari but not on Chrome. Note: Chrome often blocks autoplay unless muted; muted was enabled, yet Chrome still failed for the requester.

UI customization:

  • To remove controls: set controls: false.
  • To remove the overlay play button: add a snippet at the top of the section (exact code not shown in thread).

Status/outcome:

  • Controls/play button removal resolved for the requester.
  • Autoplay remains inconsistent on Chrome; another participant later reported “not working” and asked where to place the code. No confirmed cross‑browser fix yet.

Notes: Multiple screenshots were central to showing placement and unwanted overlay icons.

Summarized with AI on December 15. AI used: gpt-5.

where does it go?