Banner videos not displaying on mobile

Site URL: http://www.palpable-media.com

Please please help:  VIDEO BANNERS NOT DISPLAYING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE NOT HELPING

Problem:

• I paid A LOT of money to license expensive video for my site banners. BUT THEY DISAPPEAR in mobile!!! 
• the mobile site displays lots of EMPTY SPACE on mobile where there should be video content
• This is business critical: Part of our work is events and tech so we need to SHOW the work!!

Can someone please please help??

  Whenever I contact customer service I get lame excuses, and irrelevant links.  I feel like if they cant give me a functional site I want a discount because this is hurting my business!!!  

 We already went over-budget on the website and no clients yet so I cant really afford to spend more to get someone external to fix it.... 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS!!! 

p.s. WTF Squarespace?  THIS IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM - Stop blaming this on Vimeo, youtube: you clearly cant seem to fix this - Ive seen posts that go back years.  This is bad. And your customer service is THE WORST.

GoDaddy has the BEST customer service, people who answer the phones and fix problems asap.  This whole process has been a nightmare.

i have the same problem, they say upload an mobile image fallback but guess what, that doesn't display also...

this is crap....

i'll switch to wix if this is not resolved in one month.

i read another topic here about that that was closed after 2 years with no solution by an squarespace admin...

Same problem, and why was the previous topic closed??

Works on some mobiles though, which makes it even worse to troubleshoot...

However here is a fix using custom CSS to get the fallback image working...

Hey guys, I've developed a fix for this issue.

There is indeed a Squarespace issue that stops background videos from playing on mobile.

My fix for this issue doesn't require you to do anything differently, you still paste your video URL into the background video field as normal.  Here's a demo - 

I think this fix will provide real value to Squarespace website owners, so I'm going to start offering it as a plugin for £40, but before I start writing instructions and setting up the product I just wanted to gauge interest.  I will also be offering it to my existing Squarespace clients.

The plugin has some stipulations:

• You must be using Squarespace 7.1 (but if there's enough interest I'll adapt it to work on 7.0 as well)
• You must have the business plan or higher to be able to paste the custom code for this fix
• You must be using a paid Vimeo account, not Youtube. Most people should be doing this anyway because Youtube videos have youtube stuff all over them resulting in a poor user experience, and a paid Vimeo account is required for background videos
• On iOS there's a feature that stops autoplay videos if the device is in low-power mode.

Please let me know if you're interested, thanks!

Andrew Moore
Digital Freelancer & Squarespace Expert of 6+ years

Hi Andrew,

We are interested in the plugin that you refenced in your post.  Our website is www.metalcards.com

Please contact us at sales@metalcards.com

On 1/20/2021 at 7:25 PM, digitalfreelancer said:

Hey guys, I've developed a fix for this issue.

There is indeed a Squarespace issue that stops background videos from playing on mobile.

My fix for this issue doesn't require you to do anything differently, you still paste your video URL into the background video field as normal.  Here's a demo - 

 

I think this fix will provide real value to Squarespace website owners, so I'm going to start offering it as a plugin for £40, but before I start writing instructions and setting up the product I just wanted to gauge interest.  I will also be offering it to my existing Squarespace clients.

The plugin has some stipulations:

• You must be using Squarespace 7.1 (but if there's enough interest I'll adapt it to work on 7.0 as well)
• You must have the business plan or higher to be able to paste the custom code for this fix
• You must be using a paid Vimeo account, not Youtube. Most people should be doing this anyway because Youtube videos have youtube stuff all over them resulting in a poor user experience, and a paid Vimeo account is required for background videos
• On iOS there's a feature that stops autoplay videos if the device is in low-power mode.

Please let me know if you're interested, thanks!

Andrew Moore
Digital Freelancer & Squarespace Expert of 6+ years

Hi Andrew, I am interested in having the plugin for our website. Can you help me out?

18 hours ago, QAAM said:

Hi Andrew, I am interested in having the plugin for our website. Can you help me out?

Hi @QAAM yes of course. I'll send you a private message to give you all the details.

Andrew

@digitalfreelancer Can you DM me the details?

On 1/21/2021 at 5:25 AM, digitalfreelancer said:

Hey guys, I've developed a fix for this issue.

There is indeed a Squarespace issue that stops background videos from playing on mobile.

My fix for this issue doesn't require you to do anything differently, you still paste your video URL into the background video field as normal.  Here's a demo - 

 

I think this fix will provide real value to Squarespace website owners, so I'm going to start offering it as a plugin for £40, but before I start writing instructions and setting up the product I just wanted to gauge interest.  I will also be offering it to my existing Squarespace clients.

The plugin has some stipulations:

• You must be using Squarespace 7.1 (but if there's enough interest I'll adapt it to work on 7.0 as well)
• You must have the business plan or higher to be able to paste the custom code for this fix
• You must be using a paid Vimeo account, not Youtube. Most people should be doing this anyway because Youtube videos have youtube stuff all over them resulting in a poor user experience, and a paid Vimeo account is required for background videos
• On iOS there's a feature that stops autoplay videos if the device is in low-power mode.

Please let me know if you're interested, thanks!

Andrew Moore
Digital Freelancer & Squarespace Expert of 6+ years

HI Andrew, I would also like this fix, please could you send it to me? Thanks

On 1/20/2021 at 1:25 PM, digitalfreelancer said:

Hey guys, I've developed a fix for this issue.

There is indeed a Squarespace issue that stops background videos from playing on mobile.

My fix for this issue doesn't require you to do anything differently, you still paste your video URL into the background video field as normal.  Here's a demo - 

 

I think this fix will provide real value to Squarespace website owners, so I'm going to start offering it as a plugin for £40, but before I start writing instructions and setting up the product I just wanted to gauge interest.  I will also be offering it to my existing Squarespace clients.

The plugin has some stipulations:

• You must be using Squarespace 7.1 (but if there's enough interest I'll adapt it to work on 7.0 as well)
• You must have the business plan or higher to be able to paste the custom code for this fix
• You must be using a paid Vimeo account, not Youtube. Most people should be doing this anyway because Youtube videos have youtube stuff all over them resulting in a poor user experience, and a paid Vimeo account is required for background videos
• On iOS there's a feature that stops autoplay videos if the device is in low-power mode.

Please let me know if you're interested, thanks!

Andrew Moore
Digital Freelancer & Squarespace Expert of 6+ years

@digitalfreelancer I'm interested in this fix as well please!

On 8/29/2021 at 12:50 AM, cbolger said:

@digitalfreelancer I'm interested in this fix as well please!

Try this plugin

On 8/28/2021 at 6:50 PM, cbolger said:

@digitalfreelancer I'm interested in this fix as well please!

Hey @cbolger the plugin is available and works with your existing background videos unlike other plugins being offered. I'll send you a private message now, thanks.

Andrew

On 8/31/2021 at 11:10 AM, digitalfreelancer said:

Hey @cbolger the plugin is available and works with your existing background videos unlike other plugins being offered. I'll send you a private message now, thanks.

Andrew

I am also using Andrew's plugin and can confirm that it does indeed work! Much to the relief of ourselves and our client. I would highly recommend contacting Andrew if you are having this issue.

Still very disappointed with Squarespace's apparent disregard for wanting to fix something that's clearly not only possible but a pretty basic bit of functionality. We will not be using Squarespace for any further sites after this experience.

On 9/15/2021 at 11:23 AM, Foxhandybread said:

Still very disappointed with Squarespace's apparent disregard for wanting to fix something that's clearly not only possible but a pretty basic bit of functionality.

Squarespace now allows you to upload a video directly to the background of a section in Squarespace 7.1. There's no need to use an external hosting service like Vimeo or YouTube, although these options aren't being removed.

The video backgrounds feature supports videos up to 60 seconds, up to 500MB, and in the formats MP4, M4V, and MOV upto 1080p. It appears to be a more resilient solution, especially on mobile.

Hi Andrew, I am interested in having the plugin for our website. Can you help me out?

Paul2009: Any chance Squarespace will fix this for 7.0 templates? 7.1 is truly awful and lacks any customization. I went through a lot of time and expense, opened a new Vimeo account just to have video banners (should be simple). Then after all that I find out it's not working on mobile and I have to use a fallback image for that! UGH! Beyond frustrated. It seems they've figured it out for 7.1, but I need this same fix for 7.0 Bedford template. I'm considering leaving the platform over this. Can anyone suggest a better platform? Wix? Better yet...please fix this problem in 7.0 templates, fast!

38 minutes ago, CDuMez said:

Any chance Squarespace will fix this for 7.0 templates?

This particular release is for 'sections'. These use the latest 7.1 functionality and so cannot be made available on 7.0.

I think it's fair to assume that other areas of the platform that use shared underlying technology (used on both 7.0 and 7.1) will be updated over time to support Squarespace-hosted video. For example, Video Blocks. However, there are no guarantees.

If you need background videos, I recommend using Squarespace 7.1. If it helps anyone else, I wouldn't recommend starting a new site in 2021 using a Bedford-family template. It's really old and whilst it has always been very popular, it is missing many of the features and flexibility that you'd expect to find. That said, there are millions of active 7.0 websites in use and so if you've already built a site on this platform, you'll be reassured to know that Squarespace confirmed that it will continue to be maintained and improved for many years to come.

Thanks Paul2009. Version 7.1 really blows, IMHO. While 7.1 does have this one advantage of Squarespace-hosted video, it removes so much design control in other areas. I don't know if Squarespace lost a lot of design talent, or made a strategic decision to target people who just want to stick with the template. 

On 1/20/2021 at 6:25 PM, digitalfreelancer said:

Hey guys, I've developed a fix for this issue.

There is indeed a Squarespace issue that stops background videos from playing on mobile.

My fix for this issue doesn't require you to do anything differently, you still paste your video URL into the background video field as normal.  Here's a demo - 

 

I think this fix will provide real value to Squarespace website owners, so I'm going to start offering it as a plugin for £40, but before I start writing instructions and setting up the product I just wanted to gauge interest.  I will also be offering it to my existing Squarespace clients.

The plugin has some stipulations:

• You must be using Squarespace 7.1 (but if there's enough interest I'll adapt it to work on 7.0 as well)
• You must have the business plan or higher to be able to paste the custom code for this fix
• You must be using a paid Vimeo account, not Youtube. Most people should be doing this anyway because Youtube videos have youtube stuff all over them resulting in a poor user experience, and a paid Vimeo account is required for background videos
• On iOS there's a feature that stops autoplay videos if the device is in low-power mode.

Please let me know if you're interested, thanks!

Andrew Moore
Digital Freelancer & Squarespace Expert of 6+ years

Hi @digitalfreelancer,

We are interested in the plugin that you mentioned in your post. 

Our website is: https://www.buildingpictures.pt/ 

Please contact us at: press@buildingpictures.pt

By the way, I read another comment about this topic from another member (@colin.irwin), and I was intrigued by this:

"Actually, it is controlled at OS level rather than browser level. Android and iOS have both blocked autoplay background video until recent releases. 

The attributes needed for autoplay to work are 

• autoplay
• muted
• playsinline

The first two apply to Android and iOS, the third is iOS only. 

Even then there are numerous exceptions that can  prevent autoplay from working.

• If the video has a soundtrack
• if the device is in Low Power or Battery Saver mode
• some browsers apply the muted attribute incorrectly and this blocks playback 
• ..and others"

My question is: does this plugin work even with all these constraints that another user mentioned?

What do these last two items mean:

• some browsers apply the muted attribute incorrectly and this blocks playback 
• ..and others?

Can you explain to me?

Thanks so much for your help.

Best regards,
Melanie Alves

23 minutes ago, buildingpictures said:

We are interested in the plugin. Our website is: https://www.buildingpictures.pt/ 

Hi Melanie

Are you having problems with a background video not playing on your Squarespace 7.1 site?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Squarespace now allows you to upload a video directly to the background of a section in Squarespace 7.1. You no longer need Vimeo or YouTube and should no longer experience issues with the video not playing. I'll be interested to hear if this isn't your experience.

Paul

15 minutes ago, paul2009 said:

Hi Melanie

Are you having problems with a background video not playing on your Squarespace 7.1 site?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Squarespace now allows you to upload a video directly to the background of a section in Squarespace 7.1. You no longer need Vimeo or YouTube and should no longer experience issues with the video not playing. I'll be interested to hear if this isn't your experience.

Paul

 

Hi Paul
I wasn't aware of that. I've already tried a video with these features and you are right: it works on mobile. Only when I put a video through Vimeo and Youtube does it not work.

It was really a precious help. Thank you very, very much, Paul!

5 hours ago, buildingpictures said:

Hi @digitalfreelancer,

We are interested in the plugin that you mentioned in your post. 

Our website is: https://www.buildingpictures.pt/ 

Please contact us at: press@buildingpictures.pt

By the way, I read another comment about this topic from another member (@colin.irwin), and I was intrigued by this:

"Actually, it is controlled at OS level rather than browser level. Android and iOS have both blocked autoplay background video until recent releases. 

The attributes needed for autoplay to work are 

• autoplay
• muted
• playsinline

The first two apply to Android and iOS, the third is iOS only. 

Even then there are numerous exceptions that can  prevent autoplay from working.

• If the video has a soundtrack
• if the device is in Low Power or Battery Saver mode
• some browsers apply the muted attribute incorrectly and this blocks playback 
• ..and others"

My question is: does this plugin work even with all these constraints that another user mentioned?

What do these last two items mean:

• some browsers apply the muted attribute incorrectly and this blocks playback 
• ..and others?

Can you explain to me?

Thanks so much for your help.

Best regards,
Melanie Alves

 

Hi Melanie I'll email you. In short, yes it works, though if an iOS device is in low power mode it won't play.

Andrew

On 8/30/2021 at 3:50 AM, tuanphan said:

Try this plugin

Hi - I just purchased this plugin from Will Meyers - but the link I gott with instructions on how to install didnt work. Do you know how to install a rtf file into my Squarespace Site @tuanphan ????

On 2/4/2022 at 4:44 PM, SannaBuckhoj said:

Hi - I just purchased this plugin from Will Meyers - but the link I gott with instructions on how to install didnt work. Do you know how to install a rtf file into my Squarespace Site @tuanphan ????

It looks like RTF is not video format???

@digitalfreelancer Hi Andrew, I'm interested in your plug in. Please send me details at info@yaletownphotography.com

I have tried uploading the video banner directly from 7.1 and discovered that there is a slow lag on the video vs. linking from vimeo. Also, due to size limits some of my banner videos don't fit within the 500mb squarespace limit.  Thanks!