Outplay: Short Video Opener

Outplay plays the short videos people send you, one at a time, with nothing to scroll to afterwards. Tap the link and the video plays. When it ends, it stops.

No Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or YouTube app needed, and no account. Don't use those apps? You can still watch what friends send. Trying to scroll less? Delete them and still keep up.

One video, then it stops
A link from a friend is one video, not the start of a feed. Outplay plays only that video: no recommendations, no "up next", and other links on the page are blocked.

How it works
Tap a supported link in WhatsApp, Messages or another app. If the platform's own app is installed, links need a one-time setup first, which the home screen walks you through and checks. Until then, share a link to Outplay and it plays straight away.

Controls
- Play and pause
- Scrub bar showing the current and total time
- Double-tap the left or right side to skip back or forward 10 seconds
- Press and hold to play at 2x speed
- Volume and mute

YouTube Shorts use YouTube's own player, so there double-tap skip and hold-to-fast-forward aren't available. The scrub bar, play and pause, and mute are.

Features
- Opens links from Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts
- Starts playing straight away. Turn off Autoplay to have videos open paused instead, with the length shown first.
- A setting to start videos muted
- A setting to play every YouTube video in Outplay, not just Shorts
- One ad on the end screen after a video, removable with a one-time purchase. Nothing else, and never during a video.
- Share a link to Outplay, or paste one in, if tapping it doesn't open the app

Privacy
Outplay has no account or analytics, and no servers of its own. Its settings, a few counters and whether you have removed ads are stored on your device. The Google Play version shows one ad on the end screen after a video, which a one-time purchase removes. The ad is not personalised: it is Google's non-personalised ads (limited ads, with no device identifiers, in the UK and EEA), so no consent is asked. Each video is played by the platform's own embedded player, which the platform runs under its own privacy policy and which may collect data of its own. Outplay's privacy policy: https://boredjordan.github.io/outplay/privacy

Limitations
- Some videos can't be played this way, such as private, age-restricted or removed videos and ones the platform won't embed. Outplay says so and offers to open the link normally.
- To open links directly, turn on Outplay under Settings > Apps > Open by default > Add link. The home screen describes this step.
- If the platform's own app is installed, it may still open the link: it also needs its "open supported links" setting turned off. The home screen shows, for each platform, which app would open its links, and a button to the setting that fixes it. Until then, share the link to Outplay: that always works.
- On Samsung phones, these choices have been seen to switch themselves off again, and some preinstalled Meta apps claim Instagram and Facebook links too. If links stop opening in Outplay, check the home screen again.
- If a link reaches Outplay by Share or paste while a tap would not have opened it, the end screen suggests finishing the setup, once per platform.
- YouTube: by default only Shorts play in Outplay, and other YouTube links are passed to the YouTube app (or your browser if it isn't installed). Turn off "Only play Shorts" in Settings to play every YouTube video in Outplay; channels and playlists still go to the YouTube app. For links to reach Outplay at all, turn off "Open supported links" for the YouTube app and turn on Outplay's YouTube links.

Outplay is free. The Google Play version shows one ad on the end screen, which you can remove with a one-time purchase. Outplay is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Meta, YouTube or Google. Those names belong to their owners.

Recent changes:
- Fixed Facebook links shared from Messenger not playing.