Google Search Results On Android Get Auto-Playing Video Previews

The feature we first saw hints of weeks ago has started to go live on Android. The company is introducing video previews in its search results on mobile, causing videos to auto-play once they load. Though they're just arriving on Android at the moment, Google plans to expand the feature to other platforms in the future, and to languages other than English.

Auto-playing videos are widely hated among mobile users, but they're becoming more common regardless, showing up in places like Facebook and even in some desktop Google search results. This time around, some Android users located in the US are seeing auto-playing video previews in search results within the Google app and also in the Chrome browser.

Though limited to the US at the moment, Google is expecting to expand the video previews into global markets, as well as for search results in languages other than English. Given that we've already seen signs of auto-playing videos on desktop, it is reasonable to assume that platform is one where such video previews will be introduced.

Video previews will be applied to videos from a wide range of providers, not the least of which is Google's own YouTube platform. How many people are currently seeing these video previews isn't clear, but iOS users are likely to get them as well in the relatively near future. To ensure that people don't suffer too much from them, though, Google is only having the previews play if the user is connected to WiFi.

SOURCE: The Verge