Force Facebook to play videos in background tab

Question

Recently Facebook added a feature that if I play a video and switch to another tab or a different program from chrome, the video stops playing.

Is there a way to force it to keep playing?

I use Chrome and I don't have flash.

This is not enough to disable that feature:

document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', function(e){
  e.stopPropagation();
  e.preventDefault();
  return false;
})

Solution 1

I just enabled uBlock origin on Facebook again and now I can play videos in the background.

Seriously Facebook, what the hell?

Solution 2

Here's another simple workaround to execute in the dev console:

document.onblur = null
document.onvisibilitychange = null

Comments

[Ravindra Bawane]

Do you know the method Facebook uses to detect a tab is no longer in front? Have you tried a different browser?

[shinzou]

Their code is obfuscated. And it looks like it doesn't happen on firefox. @music2myear

[Ravindra Bawane]

I'd guess it's javascript, though I suppose HTML5 may include the ability to query the tab state as well. Or, at least, it would surprise me if HTML5 lacked this.

[shinzou]

I had uBlock origin on firefox enabled and on chrome it was disabled on facebook, enabled it again and now this stupid feature doesn't work. @music2myear

[Ravindra Bawane]

Why are you blaming Facebook? That's actually a rather convenient feature for most people. uBlock Origin is likely blocking the element(s) Facebook uses for the detection.

[shinzou]

Because it's a very annoying feature that was obviously intended to make sure people actually watch ads, I just want to have a vid playing in the background and to listen to it, that's a fair expectation IMO, taking that option away is not cool.