Javascript autoplay works on browser but not on iPad

Question

I copied a code from a post here and modified it a little. The autoplay works fine (with javascript) on my computers, but not on iPad. I've been trying with autoplay: 1 inside onYouTubeIframeAPIRead but it doesn't help.

<!-- 1. The <iframe> (and video player) will replace this <div> tag.-->
<div id="player">
</div>

  // 2. This code loads the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
  var tag = document.createElement('script');

  tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api";
  var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
  firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);

  // 3. This function creates an <iframe> (and YouTube player)
  //    after the API code downloads.
  var player;
  function onYouTubeIframeAPIReady() {
    player = new YT.Player('player', {
      height: '100%',
      width: '100%',
      videoId: '<?php echo $video;?>',
      events: {
        'onReady': onPlayerReady,
        'onStateChange': onPlayerStateChange
      }
    });
  }

  // 4. The API will call this function when the video player is ready.
  function onPlayerReady(event) {
    event.target.playVideo();
  }

  // 5. The API calls this function when the player's state changes.
  //    The function indicates that when playing a video (state=1),
  //    the player should play for six seconds and then stop.
  var done = false;
  function onPlayerStateChange(event) {
    if (event.data == YT.PlayerState.PLAYING && !done) {
      setTimeout(stopVideo, <?php echo $length*1000+2000;?>);
      done = true;
    }
  }
  function stopVideo() {
    player.stopVideo();
  }
</script>

Answer 1

iOS blocks autoplay on videos that have audio tracks and are autoplayed through a handler that is not in the same direct context as a user interaction.

Relevant blog post: https://webkit.org/blog/6784/new-video-policies-for-ios/

You'll want to bind this to a handler and maintain the same overall context so that autoplay is allowed. I believe Chrome is also going to be implementing this policy very soon.