Youtube won't play in the background on iOS 10.1.1?

Forgot to mention, once selected video begins playing wait a few seconds then you can click on the home button. Slide the menu bar from the bottom and hit play button. Success! You now have background YouTube video abilities.

The solution below works for me. I am using iPhone 7+ iOS 10.3.1

1) Clear safari browsing history and data from settings > Safari

2) Open youtube.com in safari private browser

3) Request for desktop site

4) play the video , it will become full screen

5) wait for a few seconds ( like 4 , 5 seconds )

6) hit home button ( both video and sound will stop )

7) Pull up the control center and swap to view media player.. you should see the title of YouTube video and click play button to play

8) Press power button to off your screen, video will continue to play in the background.. you can play/ pause from control center or using the button from ur earphone

Hope it helps ..

I am on an iPad and I didn't have to do haif of what you are doing to get background/Home screen viewing of YouTube videos to work.

I don't know what is going on here and why we have users posting bunches of different procedures about this.

I am using a different web browser (NOT Dolphin web browser, which is a great third party web browser, btw, but missing some other very important features that I think all third party iOS web browsers should have) and I can use the desktop website version of YouTube, NO private browsing mode involved ( I am currently logged into my YouTube/Google account) and I can initiate background/Home screen viewing of YouTube Videos just fine.

I don't even need the Listen on Repeat website to accomplish this any longer.

It seems to me that there should be one, maybe two standard methods to get this background YouTube playing functionality back without scads of different user methodologies for doing so.

Mate I wish there was one or two solutions but users seem to have many because for some they don't work :/

For me today (on iPhone 6) using private mode and requesting desktop sites:

Chrome works

Firefox works

Safari works

Dolphin works BUT the audio scroll bar of the video appears blank for me, so theres no way of knowing how long is left etc.

Okay so I tested this today, open chrome, click the three dots (attached to chrome, not the youtube page) and click "request desktop site" play the video, and then it will show up with your screen locked. <3

This worked!! Yay! Although, I do wish Safari would just work ugh. It was my favorite app... if we gotta start paying for the background play there's gonna be a riot. No one's gonna want to do that bc we're a lazy ppl. Kinda like Apple's radios. Used to be fre but now...? Like no one uses those, just get Pandora. Geez. I hope Safari doesn't take away my favorite feature DX

You are my fave person today, Firefox tried to reply to my complaint About this and tried to blame apples new update.....to which I haven't done yet... :/ it's amazing how these companies would lie so blatantly to my face and asssume they are not at fault lol thank you

If you shake your iDevice 5 times like a magic 8-ball, you too can get the YouTube app to play in the background!

Sheeesh!

I cannot believe how scattered this post has become!

How many more users are going to come here to post THEIR "definitive" solution to this YouTube background playing issue in this thread!

Flippin' unbelievable...

Why doesn't everyone posting expend the energies looking for a place on Google's/YouTube website to complain/send feedback to Google about taking this feature away and making users pay a ridiculous monthy subscrpition pricing model to simply watch/listen to YouTube content in the background on our mobile devices!

Instead of everyone posting SCADS of workarounds that don't seem to work for everyone with the same issue!

"How many more users are going to come here to post THEIR "definitive" solution to this YouTube background playing issue in this thread! "

Because everyone wants a solution instantly not one from google to take a few weeks solving/replying saying you need to buy YouTube red.

I never subscribed to you tube red, but it always played. It suddenly stopped about a week or so ego. I am using i-phone 6 and my wife has a same device and it stoped there as well. We are on Verizon network, but same thing happens regardless whether I use wi-fi at home or eslwere.

When you pull out control center and push play it says it's loading, but no result even on videos that are less then a minut long. It plays videos from other sites such as ted.com or news channels, but the play/stop button and rewind option become disabled on control center. After several click video starts playing but won't stop regardless you are pressing on control center play/stop button or using your earbuds. It almost feels like control center is lagging behind and the download is not getting through or something is intentionally stopping it. Nothing works, not even Firefox. We don't have any third party applications installed or sedia, and this seems to be a control center issue.

Thanks.

I had the same issue come out of nowhere. I had been on iOS 10.3 for a while when this happened. I think it is google/YouTube doing this because if you try the same with a music streaming website like audiomack.com the background play works in the task bar. So instead of using YouTube it has to be another sort of music streaming website

Whoever it is, they are first to read this, so they should know what's happaning and why. But in case they care to fix the issue, which I seriously doubt, I should state that In my earler post I failed to mention that I don't have you tube app. I always used safari and it worked fine without having you tube red subscription. I am writing here so the others can read and relate if they have same or similar issue, in case you wonder.

It looks more like a failed marketing campaign attempt targeted to specific users gone wrong. Either way until sugnificant number of users are affected nothing is going to change, but we shall live to see that. I guess one option would be to switch to compatable,

Non-Apple device.

Good luck!

You have To use the DESKTOP YouTube site.

www.youtube.com

To play in background on iPhone without having to pay for RED. It's a way to get around it, but you have to deal with the desktop site. It works just as well but the way it looks.

It works for me. I had the same issue.

Your welcome

FOUND A FIX!!!

Just install "Dolphin" web browser from the app store. It's free and I verified it works perfectly this morning.

Looks like Zuckerberg, Google and YouTube haven't got their greedy paws on Dolphin yet..... :-)

No need to buy a subscription to YouTube Red, simply go on Safari> YouTube and then the video you wish to play in the background, tap and hold the refresh symbol at the top of the page and the option to 'request a desktop site' will come up, click this then play your video and press the home button, the go to the control centre and press play from there, the same as we used to. Hope this helps- did for me.