Here’s how you can keep YouTube video or audio playing in the background on iPhone and iPad without a Premium account.
Safari for iPhone and iPad Lets You Play YouTube Videos in the Background, No Premium Account Required
The best thing about YouTube Premium is the ability to play videos and audio in the background on iPhone and iPad. Just play what you want, swipe up to get rid of the app and it will keep on playing.
However, you don’t need YouTube Premium for background playback. Using a simple workaround, you can get the same thing on a free account on iPhone and iPad.
First and foremost, this does not work in the official YouTube app. You need to use Safari for it.
Here’s how it goes:
Step 1. Launch Safari.
Step 2. Go to YouTube.com and hit enter.
Step 3. Open any video at all which you want to play in the background.
Step 4. Once the playback has started, request the desktop version of the site. I’ve covered it here in detail.
Step 5. Once the desktop version of YouTube has loaded up on your iPhone and iPad, just swipe up to go home. At this point, the video has stopped playing, and you don’t hear anything at all.
Step 6. Swipe down from the top right hand corner of the display to bring in Control Center.
Step 7. Just hit play in the media playback control. Your video is now playing in the background.
There’s a very high chance YouTube will figure out a way to curb this background playback method. But before it does that, have fun with it.
You can also use picture-in-picture mode while browsing the desktop YouTube site. Just swipe up, and the floating video player will instantly appear.
