Want to play a YouTube video in the background on your iPhone but don’t want to pay premium? Here is a workaround you can use.

Listening to your favorite song on YouTube is a relaxing and enjoyable activity. The only problem is that you can’t access any other web pages or apps while you’re on YouTube unless you pay a premium. Well, it turns out paying for premium isn’t the only way to listen to YouTube in the background on your iPhone.

Let’s review another easy way to play YouTube videos in the background on iPhone using the PiPiFire app.

About PiPiFire App

Currently, YouTube Music free background playback is only available in Canada, and playing a YouTube video in picture-in-picture mode on iOS also remains a paid feature.

PiPiFire is a free app that you can download from the App Store. It serves as an extension for Safari that lets you play videos using picture-in-picture mode. By using this feature, you can play YouTube videos in the background or picture-in-picture mode on your iPhone for free.

To download: PiPiFire (Free)

How to play YouTube videos with PiPiFire

After downloading PiPiFire from the App Store, the next step is to activate the app on your iPhone:

1. Go to the Settings the app and select Safari.
2. Scroll down and select Extensions.
3. To select PiPiFire.
4. Light up PiPiFire and press youtube.com.
5. To select To allow.

To start playing YouTube videos in the background, go to Safari app and go to YouTube.com. The extension does not work for the YouTube app itself, only for Safari.

On YouTube, select a video you want to watch. Once the video starts playing, tap it once. You’ll see a colorful picture-in-picture icon in the top left. Tap this icon. This minimizes the video to a mini player at the corner of your iPhone screen.

Slide the Mini Player aside, leaving a small dock at the edge of the screen. Now you can open a new Safari tab to surf other web pages and use other apps while YouTube plays seamlessly in the background on your iPhone. Just make sure you don’t close the YouTube tab in Safari.

When you want to play another video, just slide the dock to bring up the mini player. Faucet To expand. This will open the YouTube tab in Safari. Here, just choose another video and repeat the above steps to play the YouTube video again in picture-in-picture mode.

Enjoy your favorite songs in the background

Until YouTube expands free background playback to users outside of Canada, international iPhone users can stick with this workaround for as long as it lasts. And if YouTube ever disables this extension, there are other ways to play videos in the background anyway.

Read more

About the Author