
You'll need at least Android 8.0 Oreo for this feature, and since Oreo is over five years old, it's likely you have a phone with this, or something newer. Simply go to Settings > About phone > Android version. On most Android phones, finding out which version you have is pretty easy. However, it won’t work with content classified as music, so you’ll still need to pay for that. This used to be for Premium subscribers only, but in 2018, Google started offering picture-in-picture on YouTube to non-subscribers, too, as long as you’re in the United States.

This window can be dragged anywhere on the screen and tapped to enlarge or to access playback controls. Ever since Android 8.0 Oreo, Android has enabled a “ picture-in-picture mode,” which automatically pops up a miniature viewing window if you navigate away from YouTube. This one seems like a bit of a cheat because it’s not an app at all. How to use YouTube's picture-in-picture mode on Android Step 2: Next, search for your chosen video. If Google redirects you to the app from Firefox, try typing directly into the URL bar. Step 1: First, navigate to YouTube from your browser of choice. Here’s how you can get this method to work. Firefox and Opera are two browsers that definitely work with this method, and we recommend testing out any other iPhone browsers you prefer. While shutting off the screen and continuing to listen to YouTube is a no-no in Safari and Chrome, it’s possible to use Apple’s Control Center with certain other browsers to bypass YouTube’s restrictions. How to play YouTube videos in the background (iPhone browsers)īut what if you want to play YouTube videos in the background on your iPhone without paying for Premium? That's where web browsers come in. While the added cost isn't ideal, this is easily the most convenient way to play YouTube in the background on your iPhone or Android phone. YouTube’s app is available for both Android and iPhone. YouTube Premium will cost you $12 a month or $23 a month for a family subscription for up to six members - but you can get a one-month free trial. What is the catch? As you might expect, it’s money. YouTube Premium also comes with ad-free access to YouTube Music and it gives you the option to shut off the screen in that app, too. There are no steps to turning this on as it's on by default, so as long as you have YouTube Premium, it should work just fine.

But crucially for our purposes, it also allows you to continue watching YouTube in the background after shutting off your phone’s screen or navigating to a different app.

YouTube Premium is a subscription service that gets rid of ads on desktop and mobile, opens access to exclusive videos, and allows for the downloading of videos. How to play videos in the background with YouTube Premium
