To play YouTube in the background on an iPhone, use the Safari browser trick (requesting the desktop site) for free, use a YouTube Premium subscription for seamless picture-in-picture (PiP), or try third-party browsers/apps like YouPlay, Brave, or Vinegar (Safari Extension), as dedicated apps often require sideloading (like uYouPlus) or have limitations.
YubePiP plays YouTube videos Picture in Picture. It enables background audio-only playback.
To use picture-in-picture (PiP), exit the YouTube app while a video is playing. If you have the PiP setting turned on, the video will shrink into a PiP window. The PiP window can be dragged to different parts of the screen, allowing playback to continue on top of other apps.
Background play only works in YouTube mobile apps and requires a YouTube Premium membership. Some videos aren't available for background play or to download offline, even if you have a channel membership.
With Premium, you can also download videos to watch offline and play videos in the background while you use other apps or your screen is locked. You can share your Premium membership with up to 5 additional household members with a family plan.
How to Stop YouTube from Pausing on PC
Then do the following: start a YT video. Swipe up while the video runs. Then turn off the screen. Then open Control Center while phone is in lock screen, hit play and turn off the screen again.
The reason your iPhone's screen keeps dimming and turning off is because of a feature called Auto-Lock, which automatically puts the iPhone into sleep mode after a certain period of time. Two-thirds of the way through the set period, the screen dims to half brightness. To fix it, you need to turn the feature off.
You can play YouTube in the background using a browser trick (requesting desktop site in Chrome/Safari) for free audio, enabling Picture-in-Picture (PiP) in app settings for video multitasking (often needs Premium), or by subscribing to YouTube Premium for seamless background audio and video across devices.
Make sure your device uses the latest version of the YouTube app. Close and reopen the app. Restart your device. Once the system restarts, replay your video.
If you encounter problems with Ambient Mode, here are some troubleshooting tips: Ensure you have the latest version of the YouTube app installed. Outdated software may not support Ambient Mode. Ambient Mode may not work on older devices or unsupported operating systems.
You can play YouTube in the background using a browser trick (requesting desktop site in Chrome/Safari) for free audio, enabling Picture-in-Picture (PiP) in app settings for video multitasking (often needs Premium), or by subscribing to YouTube Premium for seamless background audio and video across devices.
Android - "App Run in Background Option"
Background play only works in the YouTube mobile apps and requires a YouTube Premium membership. Some videos aren't available for background play or to download offline, even if you have a channel membership.