Like many people, I am someone who watches videos on YouTube every day. Although I usually subscribe to YouTube Premium, I sometimes unsubscribe from the service for a month or two, and the feature I miss the most is listen to videos with screen offSo I can continue listening to my favorite podcasts or music without taking my phone out of my pocket.

This is one of the following best YouTube Premium features, but luckily there are ways to achieve this without needing to check. I’m not talking about third-party apps that “unlock” YouTube features because I generally don’t recommend most of those apps. However, if you have a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone, you can listen to videos in the background or when the screen is off without paying anything or installing any applications. The key is in the Samsung browser.

Samsung browser is one of the best native apps on Samsung Galaxy, even for listening to music on YouTube

I can’t say this enough: Samsung Browser is one of the best apps available on Samsung Galaxy devices that many people probably don’t use. The browser is full of very useful features, including some artificial intelligence We use them (e.g. to summarize articles) and others to protect our privacy while browsing.

But also this browser It lets you do the two things I miss most about YouTube Premium When I am not subscribed to the service:

• Play audio from videos in the backgroundSo I can continue listening while doing something else, like reading an article in the same browser or using another app like WhatsApp.
• Play video when the screen is offTo do what I mentioned a few lines ago: Listen to a song, podcast, or any video without taking your phone out of your pocket while doing something else.

From left to right: A video playing on YouTube in the Samsung browser. When you exit the app, the video continues to play in the background and can be paused from the notifications screen. It can also be paused and played from the lock screen.

The process of doing this is quite simple and direct, you do not need to do anything complicated or activate any additional functions in the browser: we access the video on YouTube and play it no matter what. After the video starts we can go to another window in the same Samsung browser or or even exit the browser and use another application: a social network, notes app, WhatsApp, Telegram or any other.

If we close the mobile screen, the video audio continues to be played and we can pause the video or start playing it directly. from lock screenWe can do the same when playing music on Spotify or another application.

This is one of the following The most useful features of the Samsung browserand it not only works with YouTube, it is also possible to use background playback on other platforms such as social networks or some streaming platforms.

So, if you have a Samsung Galaxy device, be it a mobile phone or a tablet, now you know: you can take advantage of this function to listen to songs, podcasts or videos in general with the screen off, without installation. Don’t use any questionable apps or pay anything. And if you have a Xiaomi mobile phone, there is a hidden function on these devices that will do the same.

Cover photo | Iván Linares in Xataka

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