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Keep YouTube Playing in the Background on Your iPhone

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Apr 12, 2001
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On iPhone, listening to YouTube audio in the background usually requires paying for a YouTube Premium subscription, but there is a simple workaround that allows you to keep listening to a video when you are doing other things on your iPhone or when your device is locked. Keep reading to learn how it's done.

General-YouTube-Feature-Redux.jpg

As YouTube has grown in popularity over the years, Google has opted to park several features of the video hosting service behind a paywall, such as ad-free viewing, SharePlay on iOS, and the ability to listen to YouTube audio on your iPhone when the app is closed.

Unfortunately, YouTube Premium costs $13.99 a month to access these features. But if all you want to do is listen to YouTube-hosted audio like podcasts, music, or lectures when you are in other apps or when your iPhone is locked and in your pocket, there is a way to achieve this without paying for the subscription.


The following steps show you how it's done.
  1. Launch Safari on your iPhone and visit youtube.com, then search for the video whose audio you want to listen to.
  2. Tap the left-hand icon in Safari's address bar.
  3. Next, tap the More (three dots) button in the bottom-right corner, then select Request Desktop Website from the popup menu.
    1youtube-audio-background-iphone.jpg

    Tap the play button or tap the video to begin playback, while ignoring or dismissing any popups encouraging you to open the YouTube mobile app. (You will need to watch or skip a few ads before video playback begins.)
    Now, lock your iPhone with the device's Side button. The audio will pause, but you can just tap the Play button in the Lock Screen playback controls widget to resume listening.
    2youtube-audio-background-iphone.jpg
After following the above steps, the audio from YouTube will continue to play on your locked iPhone for as long as the video lasts, leaving you free to pocket your device and listen on headphones.

youtube-dynamic-island.jpg


Alternatively, if you want to use other apps while listening, simply swipe up from the bottom of the screen to exit out of Safari, and then use the media controls in your iPhone's Dynamic Island or Control Center to resume playback when it automatically stops.

Article Link: Keep YouTube Playing in the Background on Your iPhone
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/keep-youtube-playing-in-background-on-iphone/
Last edited:
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Over the past three years, I’ve been cutting back on my subscriptions. While I’ve regretted canceling a few and ended up re-subscribing, overall, I’ve definitely saved money. YouTube, Premium though, is a love-hate relationship—it’s my go-to for mindless entertainment, but dealing with biased algorithms can be a PITA. 🤷‍♂️
 
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I use PiPifier Safari extension to bring up the PiP view. After that, I can go to other apps or lock the phone with the media continuing to play in the background.

Good thing with this approach is that the page need not be reloaded and hence keep your position.
 
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HQuest said:
Thank you for sharing this to the globe. Now YouTube will patch it because it became public knowledge, and those of us using it for a while will now need to find another way around.
Click to expand...
Exactly my thoughts. I wasn’t sure to even make the comment but… I see you already did.

Every year they have to make this kind of posts, like saying “hey Google, this isn’t patched yet, and users are able to run YouTube’s audio with the iPhone locked, or play in PiP mode, without paying for the subscription”…

Hopefully my method/extension will keep working for the foreseeable future.
 
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Useful guide.
I'm using a similar method with Edge (my favourite browser on iOS, surprisingly), I dream of the day when we get real multitasking on phones.
 
There's a much easier way to do this using the app..... (for folks in the U.S. that have PIP)

-play your video
-swipe up to launch PIP
-swipe down on the left side of your Home Screen to bring up notification center
-That will pause the video... just press play on the video card in notification center
-lock your phone and you're all set.. audio will keep playing with phone locked.
 
mdnz said:
No issues for me with uYouPlus :)
Click to expand...
Same. I just got so fed up with how often ads interrupted content, not the number mind you, that I resorted to buying used mini pc, turning that into a server, loading up AltServer, and sideloading uYouPlus. Now I have a completely ad free experience at full res and backgrounding. I normally don’t resort to pirating but it’s so bad and Google is so big and abusive, that it’s the only piece of control that I can use to push back against them. I’m 100% doing it to make a point even though it’s a tiny one. Makes me feel better every time I use it.

“But QuarterSwede, you’re taking from the content creators!” Yeah, sorry but that isn’t enough for me to really care. For my favorite, I’ll watch them on the AppleTV and give them some ad money.
 
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Or just get a Safari extension like Vinegar, just got it yesterday because my Argentinian payment didn't work anymore, so now they're not getting anymore money from me, but developers of such extensions will muahaha
 
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It was much easier (and cheaper) for me to just cut down my YouTube usage as much as possible. I have a few channels I follow on there, ironically about Digital Minimalism and other lifestyle focuses. And I stay completely off from it on my iPhone.

It's not enough for me to subscribe to YouTube premium.
 
I waste too much time on YouTube; in the meantime I cut the Cable a few years ago, and YouTube TV has been more than an adequate substitute. But with google raising the monthly rate, the least they could do is include a YouTube Premium subscription in a bundle.
 
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