YouTube is the most popular source of entertainment videos, and even though we have tons of streaming options for videos, many of us do like to play music, videos from there. However, it comes with one major drawback. There is no way to keep playing the video in the background and just hear the audio.

This means you cannot keep playing YouTube videos while the phone is locked or while you are using other apps.

In this guide, we will share how to play YouTube videos in the background with screen off or locked phone. Officially, YouTube offers this support with its YouTube Red subscription. However, since this is a paid program and only available in limited countries, its either not affordable or out of reach for most of the viewers.

How to Play YouTube Videos in the Background Without YouTube Red on Android

You will definitely find a ton of apps that let you do this. However, it is hard to trust them with your Google account username and password. So we are recommending a safer but slightly cumbersome solution which will work for everyone.

Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your phone, and start playing the video which you want to keep playing in the background. Do not play it in fullscreen. Next, tap on the Share button. This will open the option to share it to apps. Look for an option which says Copy Link and tap on it.

Step 2: Switch to Chrome browser and paste the URL you just copied in the above step. It will open the video in the browser. You need to choose the Desktop mode for chrome to keep playing it in the background. Tap on the options button of the browser(three vertical dots), and look for a checkbox which says Desktop Site. This will reload the YouTube video such that it is opened on a PC or Mac.

Step 3: As soon as the video reloads, you should see an audio icon on top of the notification bar. When you lock your phone or switch to a different app, it will pause the video for a moment. Unlock the phone and open the audio control from the notification panel.

Tap on the Play button and lock the phone again or switch to a different app.

This will make sure to keep playing the YouTube videos in the background on your Android phone in a locked condition or when using a different week Post this, you can search the videos on Youtube in desktop mode, and keep playing it in the background. It might be a little uncomfortable because desktop mode will have small text so keep using the copy URL step for any video whose audio you want to playback in the background.