Whether you watch YouTube in the browser or the app, playback stops the moment you leave it. That can be frustrating if you want to take in podcasts, interviews, or talk-heavy videos while getting on with something else on your iPhone.
The simplest solution is to pay Google. YouTube Premium Lite costs $9/£8 per month and removes most ads and allows background playback for most videos. Full YouTube Premium costs $16/£13 per month, removes all ads and playback restrictions, and includes ad-free YouTube Music. Annual plans are also available and work out slightly cheaper.
If you’d sooner avoid yet another subscription, you’ll need to venture into the murky world of workarounds. Various apps and Safari extensions “force” YouTube to use Apple’s native video player, which supports background playback and picture-in-picture mode. The catch is Google regularly tries to block such shenanigans. So don’t spend a fortune on a workaround, and accept that your preferred solution may abruptly stop working.
The best iPhone YouTube apps for background playback
For Safari users with StopTheMadness Pro ($15/£15) installed – our Deep Dive outlines reasons for doing so – you can use the extension’s YouTube features to enable background playback. Alternatively, Better Player (free) provides a no-cost option. However, to get this extension working, I found I had to grant it permissions from Safari’s address bar. Then, to reliably trigger background playback, I needed to put a video in picture-in-picture mode and switch from Safari to another app.
Among standalone YouTube players, ProTube (free) proved fast and reliable during testing, and effectively dealt with YouTube’s ads. Other options that worked at the time of writing included PreTub (free), YubePiP (free or $8/£8) – which required the same workaround as Better Player – and PlayTube (free), which uses its own follows system rather than your YouTube account. That last option may suit if you only need background playback for a handful of favorite channels – and a focused app to play them.
Broadly, though, there should be an option here that works for almost anyone. Just… don’t get too attached.