Twitter now allows native video, Vine, GIF autoplay on iOS

Owners of iPhones, iPads and iPod touches can now check out and enjoy videos and GIFs without having to tap to open such files on their Twitter apps.

 

Baljeet Singh, Twitter's product director for media, TV and video, said autoplay for native videos, Vines and GIFs will help "get a better sense of what’s been shared instantly."

 

"It used to be that watching a video on Twitter required several taps. So when something was unfolding in real time, be it an NBA finals game, your favorite TV show or breaking news, that extra effort meant you could miss something that you care about," Singh said in a blog post.

 

However, the user will still have to tap the video to activate sound.

 

"Once you tap the video, sound will turn on and the video will continue to play in an expanded view. If you turn the video to landscape mode, the sound will automatically turn on and the video will expand to fill the screen," Singh said.

 

Singh said this is the latest effort to make things easier to view videos and media.

 

Before, Twitter had introduced a native mobile camera and brought videos and Vines front and center in the timeline.

 

As for those who want the old click-to-play, they can choose to revert to that option via settings.

 

"Remember, you have ultimate control through your settings. You can choose to revert to the previous click-to-play experience all the time or simply have videos autoplay only when you’re connected to wifi. If you’re somewhere with high data rates or you have low bandwidth on your device, we’ll opt you out of autoplay to avoid unexpected charges or slow performance; so you’ll continue to see videos as click-to-play," Singh said.

 

The new feature will also roll out on Twitter.com, while a version for Android is coming soon, Singh said.  — Joel Locsin/ELR, GMA News