A store owner reports that their homepage video autoplays correctly on laptops and iPads but appears paused with a non-functional play button on mobile phones. The same issue affects animated backgrounds on product pages.
Technical Context:
Support Response:
The support team explains that autoplay blocking on mobile browsers is standard, expected behavior designed for better user experience. While workarounds exist, they’re not recommended due to:
However, the team identifies a separate concern: the play button itself is completely non-functional, which shouldn’t happen. They’ve tested the same theme version but couldn’t replicate the issue.
Next Steps:
The store owner is asked to test functionality using an unpublished duplicate of their theme (via Admin > Online Store > Themes > Add theme > Customize) to isolate whether customizations are causing the play button malfunction.
Status: Investigation ongoing; awaiting test results.
Hi, there is a video on my home page as you enter the site and it is playing fine on my laptop, ipad etc but on my phone (and others phones) it is paused with a big play button in the middle which doesn’t work. The animation is meant to run non-stop.
There is also an animated background for my products page and the same problem occurs. Is there anyway I can fix so both the animation videos are always running?
Site: https://dialup.store
Password: preview2
Hi, @dialup !
Thanks for sharing your question with us.
Before we dive in, there’s a few things I’d like to note regarding autoplay behavior on various browsers and mobile devices. It is very common and expected for both browsers, and particularly mobile devices, to block autoplay behavior from websites to provide a user-focused experience.
While there are ways to overcome this limitation, it is often not recommended due to the unexpected side effects of making such changes to the code and no guarantee that it will work each and every time.
With that being said, if you’re interested in learning more about these limitations and why they are placed, I recommend checking out this third-party article from one of our partners.
Now, I also realize your customers are unable to play the video at all, despite pressing play. That is certainly something we can help you further investigate and amend. Can you clarify which theme and version you are using?
I look forward to your reply,
Debut version 17.14.1
Thank you so much for your reply, @dialup !
I just finished running some tests on my end using the same theme, and I was not able to replicate your issue. Have you tried to test this functionality using an unedited version of your theme as of yet?
You can do so by heading to Admin > Online Store > Themes > Add theme > customize (without publishing).
Please let me know!