The YouTube app on Fire TV and Android TV devices has started rolling out an, in my opinion, annoying feature where it autoplays videos, with sound, as you browse around. By default, if you highlight a video on the home or subscription feed, the video begins to play within the thumbnail at full volume. Selecting the video at that point will make it full screen at the point where the autoplaying preview has reached. This appears to be slowly rolling out, since the new behavior is not yet available on all devices. Thankfully, it’s easy to disable the feature and return to the previous behavior of silent looping previews. Just go into the YouTube app’s Settings tab, found at the bottom of the sidebar, and turn off the “Previews with sound” option.

Many Fire TV owners are reporting that the “Subscription” and “Library” tabs in the navigation menu of the YouTube app have suddenly gone missing. The same thing is happening on Rokus, LG and Samsung smart TVs, Xbox and Playstation gaming consoles, and other TV platforms, so the issue is widespread and not restricted to Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks. Some have had success in restoring the missing tabs by logging out or switching accounts, but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive fix for the issue. Read more ›