Play YouTube in the Background
YouTube is the best source of entertainment for streaming video content. Most of us play music and buffer videos. Today, YouTube is the internet’s replacement for our Television. Especially for the young generation in addition to the 90’s kids, YouTube has become the most significant content platform in the world.
YouTube is now a fantastic video service to get almost every kind of video content. Moreover, the content you share with your friends and families is free. A platform that always remains by your side 24x7. For instance, students now educate themselves about anything through free online classes and tutorials. People can hear any music depending upon their moods. While browsing, you can do R&D concerning any particular topic. A user can watch TV shows, cartoons, animes, etc.
An excellent content platform with more than 3.5 billion users gets an audience from every corner of the world. YouTube founded in 2005 and today employs more than 2500 people at San Bruno, CA.
Few statistics of YouTube
- Monthly active YouTube users - 1.57+ billion
- Daily active YouTube users - 30+ million
- Regular average viewing session - 40+ minutes
- Mobile YouTube views per day - 500 million
- 62% of YouTube users are male
- 80% of YouTube users are from outside of the USA
- 50+ million people are actively creating content
- 1 billion hours of YouTube content is watched every day
- 10% of small business are on YouTube
- Females primarily watch beauty related contents
- 16 to 35 and 45+ age group are the fastest growing audience on YouTube
YouTube content will be increasing and the day is very near where the video content will take over the written material. Since appearance is now a symbol of conviction, video content will replace text content. Though being a great free content platform, Youtube has one major drawback that comes with its installation.
“YouTube only play videos on the foreground, not on the background.”
Sometimes we only want to hear the content within the video rather than watching it while we are busy on our phone. Subsequently, to access other appson our mobile while listening to YouTube content, a user must close the YouTube app. One of the most annoying restrictions of YouTube is to automatically pause the video while navigating to some other screen or app.
Why does YouTube stop playing in the background?
YouTube is a video content platform that needs the user’s attention completely. In other words, YouTube will always prefer its users to watch and listen to the content while playing YouTube. Therefore, if a user navigates to some other thing on the phone or else press the power button and locks the device, YouTube will stop functioning in the background.
Considering, this we can assume that YouTube needs serious content viewers. However, 70% of YouTube users turn to it for nostalgia than purposefully. Despite this reason, YouTube must have some other cause for not playing the app in the background. Provided this, we have two reasons which will give clarity about YouTube not working on background;
- As we all know that YouTube let users earn money through adds and vlogging. Therefore, if the YouTube is played in the background, the user will not be able to see the ads on the videos. Hence, the visibility of ads will decrease among the users. Thus, affecting the final revenue of YouTube because both YouTube and the content maker earns through adds.
- Whether the user is iOS or Android, using several apps at a time kills the battery life. As the YouTube works on internet connection, playing YouTube in the background will affect the battery. Moreover, Youtube’s development is done in such a way that it will consume more battery.
Do we have a replacement for YouTube for streaming music?
Yes, music streaming apps like GAANA and SAAVANwill work in the background because they are developed to utilize less battery though they have visibility of add too.
YouTube Premium Subscription
YouTube is an online replacement of TV, so we’d like to use it in the background. However, Google doesn’t make that easy on iOS and Android devices. But, if you have YouTube Red subscription, then you can play YouTube in the background. YouTube Red was one official way of playing YouTube in the background, but now YouTube Red is known as YouTube Premium.
Premium subscription will remove adds to, but the membership cost of YouTube Subscription is massive. This membership gives a user open access to exclusive videos besides downloading them. Moreover, if you shut your phone screen off or locks it, the prime subscription will allow you to listen to YouTube in the background.
YouTube Premium has ad-free access to the YouTube Music. Together they work as a replacement to Google Play Music. The YouTube Premium option will cost you $12 a month, and a family subscription will cost $18 a month for a maximum six members in the family.
YouTube Premium subscription will let you enjoy the background play service, ad-removal, and offline viewing! Premium is the official way to play YouTube in any manner as per your need on iOS and Android.
Well if you don’t buy the YouTube Premium Membership, then it is not going to impact you being the regular viewer. Premium is an extension to the YouTube that only YouTube Premium subscribers can access.
If ads bother you a lot, you want to watch videos offline, likes to download what you see then signing up for the YouTube Premium is a good option. All access to YouTube subscription will lead you towards Google Play Music.
However, there is one other case where a user doesn’t want to pay $12 a month. Also, they are ready to watch ads on YouTube. So, does there exists any other solution where;
Can YouTube work as a background rather than a foreground app?
The answer to the question is yes!
Play YouTube in the background in iOS
Use Opera Mini Browser:
There is a way to play YouTube video content in the background on iOS. Playing a video in Opera Mini on iOS is simple and will work with YouTube too.
- Launch Opera Mini browser and open YouTube website. Make sure to stay on the website rather than navigating on YouTube app.
- Search the video you want to play.
- Go to the Settings > User Agent and select Desktop in the opera mini browser. Press Done in the upper right-hand corner after selecting desktop.
- Now you can play the desired video in desktop mode. Close the browser and go back to your home screen of Apple mobile.
- Open Control Center at home screen and reveal the music player. To access control center, you may swipe up or swipe down.
- Open Control Center’s music playback control. Here you will see that your desired YouTube video is paused.
- Simply tap play and continue listening to your video on your Apple device.
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Use a Non-Safari Web Browser:
Safari browsers are used in Apple devices, but they don’t give access to YouTube in the background. Therefore, YouTube Premium subscription is necessary to avoid the foreground playing. Download freeware Dolphin’s web browser in your iOS device.
- Open Dolphin web browser and go to www.youtube.com. Now search the video you want to play on iOS.
- Hit the home button; you will navigate to your home screen.
- Open control center on iOS; you will see the name of video playing currently on your iOS.
- Tap the play button; the audio will play in the background.
Play YouTube in the background in Android
Use Firefox and Chrome Browser:
Browsers like Opera, Dolphin, Firefox, Chrome all work as a third-party browser to start a youtube video. But, remember the browser should be latest and updated. Furthermore, in the case of the Chrome browser, use version Chrome 68.
- Launch Firefox or Chrome go to the YouTube website.
- Start the video you want to play in the background.
- Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of the window. Go to the browser Settings. Now tap Request Desktop Site.
- Start playing the video and close your browser. It will navigate you to the home screen.
- There is a high probability that the video will stop. Therefore, pull down the notifications bar. On your Android phone, you will see the video is stopped, tap play to start the video.
- Make sure not to close the screen before pressing the Home button, because this will automatically stop the video.
Use a Bubble Browser:
Bubble browsers like Flynx or Flyperlink are another option to run YouTube in the background. In a bubble, you access YouTube mobile website to stream videos. YouTube videos will continue to run even after the screen is turned off or your system is running another app.
The power saving mode of bubble browser will save the battery life too while playing YouTube in the background.
Flyperlink will give fast access to the YouTube which is not comfortable with Flynx. Moreover, bubble software gives you the advantage to access video services other than YouTube.
The Picture in Picture mode in Android 8.0 Oreo
Android 8.0 is not an app but is the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. The picture in picture mode automatically pops up a miniature video if you navigate away from YouTube. This video can be dragged anywhere on the screen, even more, can be enlarged and shortened. This new Android version gives access to the playback control also.
The disadvantage with this picture in picture mode is that it is available only in Android 8.0 Oreo. To check your Android version go to Settings>About Phone>Android Version. Here, you will see upcoming updates to your Android version in addition to the present version. Get the updates done on your Android device and enjoy the picture in picture mode on Android 8.0 Oreo.
Playing Videos in Pop-Up Android
Android 8.0 Oreo is not possible on everyone’s phone. In that case, there is an app called Awesome Pop-Up Video Play. This app will play your chosen video in a pop-up window so that you can do other things at the same time while the video is playing.
Just open the app and search the video you want to play. The video will open in a separate window which you can drag anywhere around the screen. The feature of this app is very similar to the Android 8.0 Oreo picture-in-picture mode. There is also a premium version of Awesome Pop-Up Video Play that allows for offline downloads along with the removal of ads.
It is obvious that users would like to hear audio rather than enjoying the video content. This is a desired feature which Google does know. Unfortunately, Android and iOS users cannot access youtube in the background without YouTube Premium subscription.
But, with the above methods by using third-party browsers user now can play the videos in the background. Do let us know in the comment section; how far you liked the ways to play youtube HD videos.
How To Play YouTube in Background on Android and iOS
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