How to Play YouTube in the Background on Your Phone
I rely on one song to be my pre-interview psychological music: atheme from the 2011 video game Skyrim . The only place I’ve found a suitable version of this song is on YouTube – the midi and orchestral arrangements just don’t cut it. But every time I’m in one of those high-stakes moments, I inevitably quit YouTube or just lock my phone while Dovahkiin chants are thrilling ! sharply cut out.
YouTube knows we want to be able to listen to videos without having to watch them – whether we’re multitasking or the video is just a tool for the song – which is why YouTube background playback is only available to YouTube Red subscribers. But the fearless writer at The Verge , Vlad Savov, has come up with workarounds for Android and iOS.
In both cases, the trick is to use the browser to play the video, not the YouTube app. On Android, this works in Chrome. Open youtube.com in a browser, then select the “Request a site for PC” checkbox from the three-dot menu in the upper right corner. Now, when you play a video, it pauses when you leave (or open another Chrome window), but you can resume playing through the notification menu.
For iOS, you need to download another browser: Dolphin . But then the path is similar: go to youtube.com in Dolphin and enable video playback. When exiting Dolphin, use the iOS Control Center to restart video playback.
And then go confidently to an interview, or to slay dragons, or whatever.
How to Play YouTube in the Background on Android and iOS | Facets