You're halfway through a killer podcast on YouTube, your phone vibrates with a text, and the moment you switch apps—silence. It’s annoying. Seriously, it’s one of the most frustrating "features" of the modern mobile experience. You just want to listen to a video while you crush some emails or go for a run, but the app treats your screen like a hostage situation. If you stop looking, it stops talking.
So, how do i make youtube play in the background without losing your mind or your data?
It’s not just a minor convenience; for many of us, YouTube has basically replaced Spotify or traditional radio. We use it for lo-fi beats, long-form video essays, and "how-to" guides where we only need the audio. The reality is that Google—YouTube's parent company—really wants you to pay for the privilege of multitasking. They’ve built a massive wall around background play to drive people toward their $13.99 a month Premium subscription.
But there are loopholes. Some are official, some are slightly "hacky," and some depend entirely on whether you’re rocking an iPhone or an Android.
The Official Route: Is YouTube Premium Worth It?
Let’s be real. The easiest way to get background play is to pay for it. YouTube Premium is the "sanctioned" method. Once you have a subscription, you just swipe up to go home or switch apps, and the audio keeps rolling. It also gives you Picture-in-Picture (PiP), which lets a little floating window stay on your screen while you’re scrolling through Reddit or checking your bank account.
Is it worth the cash? Honestly, that depends on how much you hate ads. If you spend three hours a day on YouTube, the lack of interruptions is a godsend. Plus, it includes YouTube Music. But if you're just trying to listen to a one-off video while you check your grocery list, $14 a month feels like a steep tax for a basic software function.
The Desktop Site Trick (The Classic Workaround)
This is the oldest trick in the book, and amazingly, it still works most of the time. It’s basically a game of "trick the browser."
If you’re on an iPhone using Safari or an Android using Chrome, don’t use the YouTube app. Seriously, delete the shortcut or just ignore it. Open your mobile browser instead. Head to YouTube.com and find your video. Now, here is the secret sauce: you have to request the Desktop Site.
On Safari, you tap the "AA" icon in the address bar. On Chrome, you hit the three dots in the corner and check the box that says "Desktop site." The page will reload and look tiny and cramped. That's good. Hit play. Now, go back to your home screen. The audio will probably stop. Don’t panic. Swipe down to open your Control Center (iPhone) or your notification shade (Android). You should see a media player widget there with the name of the video. Hit the play button on that widget.
Boom. Background audio.
It’s clunky. Sometimes the browser refreshes and kills the stream. But for a free method that doesn’t require installing weird third-party software, it’s the gold standard.
The Brave Browser Advantage
If you want a smoother experience than the "Desktop Site" dance, try the Brave Browser. I’ve found this to be the most consistent "set it and forget it" method for background play on mobile. Brave is a privacy-focused browser that, by default, blocks most ads and trackers.
On Android, it’s a breeze. You go into the Brave settings, find the "Background video playback" option, and toggle it on. That’s it. You can play any YouTube video in a regular tab, switch apps, and the audio stays live.
On iOS, it’s slightly more restricted because of Apple’s App Store rules, but it still works better than Safari. You can often enable "Background Play" in the Brave settings or use the "Playlist" feature. You add a video to your Brave Playlist, and it plays just like a local music file, even with the screen locked. It’s a bit of extra work to "add" the video first, but it saves you from the constant start-stop of other browsers.
Picture-in-Picture: The Android vs. iOS Divide
We need to talk about Picture-in-Picture (PiP). This is the feature where the video shrinks into a small, movable box.
On Android, this is generally free for everyone in the United States, as long as you aren’t trying to play "official music videos." If you're watching a tech review or a vlog, you can just swipe up to go home, and the PiP window appears. If you’re outside the US, or you’re trying to listen to the latest Taylor Swift hit, Google usually blocks this unless you have Premium.
On iPhone, PiP has had a rocky history. For a long time, it was Premium-only. Now, it’s officially available for non-music content in the US, but it’s finicky. You have to make sure it’s enabled in your iOS settings (Settings > General > Picture in Picture) and within the YouTube app settings (Settings > General > Picture-in-Picture). If it’s not working, it’s usually because YouTube has flagged the specific content as "music," which triggers the paywall.
Why Does Google Make This So Hard?
It feels like a glitch, right? Every other app—Spotify, Apple Music, even some news apps—plays in the background by default. Why is YouTube different?
The answer is "ad viewability."
Advertisers pay more for ads that are seen, not just heard. If your phone is in your pocket, you aren't seeing the ads. If you aren't seeing the ads, YouTube can't charge the same premium rates. By forcing the app to be in the foreground, YouTube ensures that their ad metrics stay high. It’s a business decision, plain and simple. It’s also a way to segment their product. They’ve turned a basic technical function into a "luxury feature" to justify the subscription cost.
The "Vanced" Ghost and Third-Party Apps
If you’ve spent any time on Reddit looking for "how do i make youtube play in the background," you’ve probably heard of YouTube Vanced. It was a legendary modified version of the app that gave everyone Premium features for free.
Google eventually nuked it with a cease-and-desist.
Since then, several spiritual successors have popped up, like ReVanced. These aren't apps you find on the Play Store. They require downloading "APKs" and jumping through some technical hoops. While they work incredibly well, they come with a warning: you’re essentially side-loading unverified code onto your device. For the average user who just wants to listen to a podcast while gardening, it might be more trouble (and security risk) than it’s worth.
There are also "wrapper" apps like NewPipe (for Android) or various "Music Player" apps on the iOS App Store that claim to play YouTube audio. The iOS ones are usually riddled with their own ads and get pulled by Apple pretty frequently. NewPipe is solid and open-source, but again, it’s an Android-only "sideload" situation.
Fixing the "Screen Off" Problem
Sometimes you get the audio to play in the background while you're using another app, but the second you hit the power button to put the phone in your pocket, everything dies.
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This usually happens because of aggressive battery optimization.
On Android, you can go into your app settings, find your browser (or YouTube), and set the battery usage to "Unrestricted." This tells the phone, "Hey, I don't care if this uses more juice, don't kill this process when the screen goes dark."
On iPhone, "Background App Refresh" needs to be on, but even then, Apple is very strict about what can keep the processor awake. Using the "Control Center Play Button" trick mentioned earlier is usually the only way to keep the audio going once the screen is locked.
Summary of Actionable Steps
Instead of looking for a "magic button" that doesn't exist in the standard app, follow these specific workflows based on your device.
For the iPhone User Who Wants It Free:
- Open Safari.
- Go to YouTube.com.
- Tap the AA icon and select Request Desktop Website.
- Play your video.
- Swipe to your Home screen (the audio will stop).
- Swipe down to open the Control Center.
- Tap Play on the music widget.
- Lock your phone. If it stops, hit play again from the lock screen.
For the Android User Who Wants It Free:
- Download the Brave Browser from the Play Store.
- Open Brave and go to Settings.
- Tap on Media and toggle on Background Play.
- Navigate to YouTube and play any video.
- You can now switch apps or turn off the screen without the audio cutting out.
For the Tablet or "Power User":
If you have a tablet or a phone with a massive screen, use Split Screen mode. On Android, you can have YouTube running in one half of the screen and your notes or browser in the other. Technically, YouTube thinks it's in the foreground because it's visible, so it won't pause. You can shrink the YouTube window to be as small as possible while you work in the larger window.
Final Consideration on Data Usage:
Remember that even if you are only listening to the audio, your phone is still downloading the full video stream. This can chew through a data plan incredibly fast. If you're doing this on the go, go into the video settings (the gear icon) and manually set the quality to 144p. The audio quality stays the same, but you’ll save a massive amount of bandwidth.
Moving Forward with Your Playback
The landscape of mobile video is always shifting. Google constantly updates their site code to "break" the desktop-view workaround, and browser developers constantly update their apps to fix it. If the Safari trick stops working tomorrow, try Firefox or Opera. The cat-and-mouse game is part of the experience.
The most reliable non-payment method remains using a secondary browser like Brave or Firefox with background permissions enabled. This bypasses the restrictions built into the native YouTube app and gives you back control over your media. Check your battery settings to ensure your phone isn't "sleeping" the browser when the screen goes dark, and you’ll have a seamless listening experience.
Next Steps for Background Listening:
- Check your YouTube app settings to see if Picture-in-Picture is already toggled on; you might have the feature and not know it.
- Install a privacy-focused browser like Brave if you want a one-toggle solution for background audio.
- Lower your video resolution to 144p when listening in the background to prevent unnecessary data overages.
- Test the "Control Center" playback on your lock screen to see if your specific OS version supports persistent audio streams from the web.