Well, first time in 16 years I’ve received no response to this question. I’m a bit stunned that the discussions community appears to be a ghost town now.
For those like me who are absolutely against the barrage of autoplay videos and ads, I’ve spent hours combing the web and discussions as well as trying out a few things myself. The only thing that works currently is disabling “Javascript”.
Go to “Settings”, then to “Safari”, then to “Advanced”, then toggle “JavaScript” from green to off.
Be aware that many website features can be disabled, such as parts of this very discussion site. With JavaScript off, I was unable to load my discussions from within my own profile. When I tried to reply to a question, I only received a blank page. When I reenabled JavaScript, all that came back to life.
BUT, all videos thankfully disappear from all websites and you can scroll through text in peace. When I travel, I check in with the news a few times a day which can quickly max out my data plan with all the unwanted video playing. With JavaScript off, I can check in with the news and just read the stories I want and leave the site with a minimal hit to my data plan. When I get to a page with features I want, like replying to a discussion question at this website, I simply reenable JavaScript.
This can be a hassle but when away from WiFi it can really save you from data overages during simple web surfing. Apple gave the Mac OS community the ability to disable autoplay videos in Safari but not the iOS community even though it’s subjected to expensive data plans far more than standard computer users. Why is that? And why did community members last year tell me iOS 11 was going to receive this feature when it didn’t? Was it available to beta testers but then pulled once it was released to the public? What’s going on, Apple?
