YouTube on iPad not happening

Jun 13, 2013

I have followed the directions in this tutorial about adding a YouTube video to Storyline ( http://www.articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=naw70kv2nkvi ) to the letter, but on the iPad no video shows - just a blank screen. Works fine on pc/mac screen. Have published both with/without the Articulate Mobile Player with no result. What could I possibly be doing wrong? Any help vastly appreciated.

19 Replies
Richard Chasin

Hi again Christine

This is the same issue I had previously; so far I have not had any success.

It's not a restricted video. The video creator has it posted on their website, and it is available both on screen and iPad. It works perfectly for them in a web page, but nothing I do using Storyline allows the video to play on the iPad, only on screen.

The project is currently hosted on our development server.

Insert web object yields nothing. Insert video from website works fine on screen but not on iPad.

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNNsN9IJkws

I have tried this embed code - fine for screen. nothing for iPad:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VNNsN9IJkws"></iframe>

I really need to find a way to make this work as our project is YouTube video based.

Thank you.

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Richard!

Are you publishing for HTML5? If so, the "Video from Website" option won't work properly. That may be why this method isn't working.

Here's more information:

Note: If you'll be delivering your Storyline courses via HTML5 or the Articulate Mobile Player app for iPad, be aware that YouTube videos embedded in this manner won't work in these environments. Use the following method for embedding YouTube videos instead.

For the web object method, I was able to get this working with the Articulate Mobile Player and it's also working very well in HTML5.

Testing for Richard Youtube HTML5

What URL are you entering for the web object? Try http://www.youtube.com/embed/VNNsN9IJkws if you can.

Thanks!

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Richard,

Honestly I hadn't made it that far :D I simply added the URL, without any additional features/parameters. When I set up the video I had to click to play the video as well. 

I just tested this and I'm seeing the same thing, the autoplay works on a PC, but doesn't seem to do the trick on the iPad. Looks like this is something that's come up in the past and Jeanette posted a solution that may work for you:

youtube on Ipad

Thanks!

Richard Chasin

Thanks Christine.

I looked at the link, but it's more about stopping a viewer from advancing to the next screen before a video is completed.

If there is no way to autoplay a video on the iPad then we will have to revise our course. We have screens with parts of videos, and then text and interactions following the video. If the timeline advances whether the video is playing or not playing, then our concept will not work, unless we can autoplay on the iPad.

More strangeness - I had placed a color box behind the video as a visual frame. No matter how long the timeline is extended beyond the length of the video, the color box vanishes after a while, despite being coded to "Show Until End". It's like the video keeps going beyond the apparent end time. Have not figured this out either.

Christine Hendrickson

Good morning Richard! :)

Quick question/suggestion here - are you required to use YouTube videos? If you could get permission from the owner of the videos, you might be able to avoid all of these issues by simply recording and placing the videos in the actually course, rather than having to link/embed them. Just a though - I'm not sure what the project requirements are, but if you could do this you would definitely have more control over the videos, their appearance and how/when they play. 

Christine Hendrickson

Hi there Richard. I hope you're doing well! :)

Afraid not - that's part of how the YouTube videos are created and displayed. We really don't have a way to control that.

Personally, I'm not crazy about it - that and the ads that come with some videos.

Wish I had some suggestions for you, but I'm afraid I don't know of anything that would stop those video suggestions/lists from showing up.

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Alexander! I was able to see the behavior you are reporting in utilizing the link you shared here.

Viewing on an iPad in mobile Safari has some limitations that impact how multimedia appears and operates. 

Media Playback Support is limited:

  • User may need to click to start media (audio and video may not play automatically)
  • Only one media file may play at a time

Here is some documented information about viewing on iPads.

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