Why did YouTube remove background play

YouTube Premium is a cool subscription pack if you want to watch videos without any ads and listen to music using YouTube Music. It does come with extra features including background playback for Android and iPhone users. For those who use YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience, and not background playing, this might be annoying.

Here, let us see how to disable YouTube background play on iPhone and Android with YouTube Premium.

Disable YouTube Background Play on iPhone and Android

Background playback for YouTube is available only for YouTube Premium subscribers. If you are a YouTube Premium user and do not like the background play when you switch from YouTube to other apps, here is how to disable it.

1. Open the YouTube app on your phone.
2. Tap the profile icon at the top right corner.
3. Go to Settings from the next window.
4. Scroll down and tap the “Background Play” option.
5. Choose “Off” to turn off YouTube background play with YouTube Premium.

You can also choose to enable background play only when the headphone or a speaker is connected to your iPhone. In such a case, the background play will not work when you play a video using the phone speaker.

Related: 10 Ways to Fix YouTube Autoplay Button Missing Error

Enable the background play feature whenever you want from the YouTube app following the same method as above. Hope you now have an idea about how to enable or disable YouTube background play on iPhone and Android.

Your iPhone may sometimes fail to play YouTube in the background. When you lock your phone, there’s no sound coming from Google’s video-sharing service. Let’s explore what might be causing this problem and how you can fix it.

Contents

• Fix YouTube App Not Playing in the Background on iOS
  • Check Your YouTube Premium Status
  • Check YouTube Premium’s Availability
  • Check Your Background Playback Settings
  • Update YouTube and Close Background Apps
  • Play YouTube In The Background on Safari
  • Conclusion

Fix YouTube App Not Playing in the Background on iOS

⇒ Important Note: Background play is available only on YouTube Premium. In other words, you need a paid membership for this feature to work.

Check Your YouTube Premium Status

First of all, check your YouTube Premium subscription and make sure it’s still valid. Select your profile picture, go to Paid memberships, and select Manage.

Re-enable your membership if necessary. However, do keep in mind that you may need to wait two or three hours to regain access to the background play feature.

Additionally, log out of the app, and turn off your iPhone. Wait one minute and then restart your device. Launch YouTube and check if background play is working. Hopefully, signing out and restarting your device will speed up the process.

Check YouTube Premium’s Availability

If you travel to a country where YouTube Premium is not available, you won’t be able to use all the app’s options even if you have a valid paid membership in your country of origin. In other words, videos and music won’t play in the background, and you won’t be able to download videos.

For more information on the countries where YouTube Premium is available, go to YouTube’s support page.

Check Your Background Playback Settings

If you disable the background playback setting, YouTube Premium won’t play in the background. Ensure the option is enabled.

1. Launch the YouTube app and go to Settings.
2. Then go to Background & Downloads and tap Background Play.
3. Make sure background playback is not set to Off.
   
   

You can further tweak the settings so as to allow YouTube to always play in the background. Alternatively, you can set videos to play in the background only when your iPhone is connected to a pair of headphones or external speakers.

Update YouTube and Close Background Apps

Outdated YouTube app versions may trigger a plethora of glitches. That’s why you should ensure you’re running the latest app version on your iPhone. Check if there’s a newer YouTube app version available, install it and check if background play is working properly. The same is valid for your iOS version. Update your iPhone’s operating system and check the results.

Don’t forget to close all background apps. If some of these apps are using your speakers or headphones, YouTube may have trouble accessing your audio output hardware.

Play YouTube In The Background on Safari

If the YT app still fails to play videos in the background, you can use Safari to get the job done.

1. Launch Safari and connect to youtube.com.
2. Then select the video you want to play and tap the Aa icon in the search bar.
3. Use the drop-down menu and select the Request desktop site option.
   
   
4. Launch the video, lock your phone and check the results.

Conclusion

YouTube background play is only available on YouTube Premium. Make sure you have a valid paid membership and the service is supported in your current location. Don’t forget to update the app and install the latest iOS version. Did you manage to solve the problem? Let us know in the comments below.

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