Play YouTube in the background It is the best way to enjoy our favorite music without having to pay a subscription for a streaming music platform such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music...
The YouTube application for iOS and Android allows us to play any video in the background as long as we are users of YouTube Music, a subscription that has the same price as any other streaming music platform.
If we don't pay for that subscription, when turning off the screen of our smartphone or changing the application, the video will stop playing.
The simplest solution to bypass this restriction, which works through the username, is use third-party applications, specific browsers or an extension.
If you want to know all available methods to play youtube in second flat on both iOS and Android, I invite you to continue reading.
How to Play YouTube in the Background on Android
vanced
One of the best apps available for android and that allows us to play YouTube videos in the background, in a floating window and without ads is Vanced.
Unfortunately the guys at Google sent a letter to the developer of this app and it's no longer available through its web page.
Fortunately, we can resort to pages of download alternatives all with download the latest released version of this app.
The problem is that as new versions of Android are released, the app will start to have compatibility and performance issues.
The solution to this problem happens to use NewPipe.
NewPipe
NewPipe is another of the fantastic applications available for Android that allow us to access YouTube content and play it in the background just like the official app.
In fact, for the app to work in the background, includes a dedicated button located just below the video. When clicking on that button, the video playback will stop and only the audio will start playing.
From this moment on, we can turn off screen or switch between apps seamlessly, since the song will continue playing without any cuts.
It also allows us to display the videos in a popup while we make use of other applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook... although due to the size of the screen of today's smartphones, it is more advisable to do it with a tablet.
In addition, it also allows us download videos and audio from videos, so it is an excellent option to create our own music library as long as we are not very demanding with the quality of the audio.
NewPipe is an application of open source available on GitHub, it's completely free, includes no ads, and is updated fairly regularly.
If your device is old, you will not have any problem, since it allows us to download a version for Android 4.4 onwards and for device with Android 4.1 or earlier.
You can download NewPipe directly from your web page.
Firefox
El mozilla foundation browser, also allows us to enjoy YouTube in the background, but using the extension Video Background Play Fix.
This extension, available for free, allows us to rplay in background both YouTube videos and Video.
Once installed, we can continue using our mobile by changing between applications since the playback will not stop.
Also, if we turn off the screen, the video will not stop playing either.
How to play YouTube in the background on iPhone and iPad
Vinegar
With the release of iOS 15, Apple introduced the Safari support for extensions. Although, the number of extensions is still very limited, one of them allows us to play YouTube in second and in a floating window.
In addition, remove the ads and block all YouTube tracking tools. Of course, to use this application we must use Safari and not the native application available for iOS.
The Vinegar extension for Safari requires iOS 15 or higher. In addition, we can also use Safari for macOS, although in desktop ecosystems with a simple ad blocker, it is more than enough.
Dolphin Browser
Unlike Safari, where it is necessary to use an extension to be able to play YouTube in the background, with the Dolphin Browser it is possible to do so without installing any plugin.
We just have to access the YouTube website from the browser, start playing a video, turn off the screen and from the locked screen, press on the Play of the playback control to resume it.
Amerigo
Amerigo is one of the best apps available on the app store to do everything. This application allows us to enjoy our favorite YouTube playlists from the integrated browser in the background.
The operation of Amerigo is similar to the one offered by the browser Dolphin Browser. Once we have started playing the video, we turn off the screen and from the lock screen, press the Play button to resume playback.
With Amerigo, we can download YouTube videos and from any other platform like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and others. It also allows us toextract audio from videos in order to make our own music library.
In addition, with Amerigo we can also access all cloud storage platforms to manage files, create a password-protected folder, compress files to .zip format as well as rename, copy or move them.
Amerigo is available in two versions. On the one hand, we find the free version that includes ads and a series of limitations that allow us to get the most out of it. The one related to YouTube background playback works without problems.
On the other hand, we find the paid version, a paid version that has a price of 17,99 euros.
To consider
It is likely that, over time, some of the iOS applications that allow you to play videos in the background will stop working, not because of the browsers themselves, but because Google stop allowing it.
With Android apps like Vanced and especially NewPipe (which keeps getting updated), this functionality will always be available unless Google also sends a letter to the developers and abandons its development.