T-Mobile AT&T Verizon Sprint iOS Apple Tablets How-to

How to listen to YouTube videos in the background – iOS guide

Paul K.

posted by Paul K. / Apr 17, 2015, 5:50 AM

How to listen to YouTube videos in the background – iOS guide

Google has been doing its best to limit the ability of one to listen to its music while doing something completely different than actually watching them. Now, naturally, since Google wants your eyes on its site / app (and ads), and especially since it launched the Play Music and All Access services – being able to just play tunes on your phone from the YouTube app then minimizing it / sleeping the phone and doing other stuff had to go.

Now, since Google has a firm grasp on Android, being able to play minimized YouTube vids on those handsets is actually not doable – not unless you root your phone, that is. However, you can actually have your YouTube music running in the background on an iOS device such as an iPad or iPhone. It's done in a couple of steps for each time you wish to activate it and here's how it's done:

How to listen to YouTube videos in the background – iOS guide

View more + 2 images

View more + 2 images

Now, as you can see from step 3 and 4, having the YouTube app on the device could cause some headaches as you try to use this method. If you end up deciding to ditch the app, here's an easy way to create a shortcut to the YouTube website – it will even look like an app!

Adding an app-like shortcut to YouTube.com

FEATURED VIDEO

Options

12 Comments

Reply

1. kkmkk

Posts: 699; Member since: May 06, 2013

is it possible to do the same for android ?

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:04 AM 0

Reply

3. vincelongman

Posts: 5724; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

The stock YouTube app has this if you have a Play Music subscription There's some apps on the Play Store that allow this (e.g. Viral) And there a Xposed mod which adds this to to the YouTube app

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:17 AM 0

TyrionLannister unregistered

Reply

9. TyrionLannister unregistered

Use an app called FireTube. It's available for free on amazon app store. On play store, it costs 3$.

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 8:30 AM 0

Reply

2. nebula

Posts: 1009; Member since: Feb 20, 2015

This is one awesome feature on IOS I have to admit

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:11 AM 0

Reply

4. gprez2006

Posts: 11; Member since: Feb 24, 2015

That's why Apple is the king!

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:26 AM 0

Reply

5. sip1995

Posts: 1771; Member since: Feb 07, 2014

Windows Phone apps already have this....

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:30 AM 0

mrej201

Reply

7. mrej201

Posts: 226; Member since: Feb 04, 2015

the king of what I'd you can't download s$$t on it

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:35 AM 0

Reply

6. mrej201

Posts: 226; Member since: Feb 04, 2015

you can get the modded apk on xda

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 6:34 AM 0

Reply

8. sip1995

Posts: 1771; Member since: Feb 07, 2014

Link please..

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 7:16 AM 0

mrej201

Reply

12. mrej201

Posts: 226; Member since: Feb 04, 2015

only for android though

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 4:04 PM 0

Reply

10. sprockkets

Posts: 1612; Member since: Jan 16, 2012

Much easier ways of doing this. Try not using youtube!

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 11:29 AM 0

Reply

11. PapaSmurf

Posts: 10457; Member since: May 14, 2012

What was the purpose of your comment...?

posted on Apr 17, 2015, 2:43 PM 0

view all comments

Latest Stories

View more

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers at https://www.parsintl.com/phonearena or use the Reprints & Permissions tool that appears at the bottom of each web page. Visit https://www.parsintl.com/ for samples and additional information.