YouTube TV can now play in the background, meaning users can listen on locked devices
YouTube TV listeners can now listen to shows in the background even when their phone screen is locked, a YouTube spokesperson said Tuesday.
“I can confirm that we are running an experiment that will allow YouTube TV playback to continue after the phone screen is locked for Android and iOS mobile users,” a YouTube representative told CNET in an email. “If a viewer has the YouTube TV app enabled and then locks their phone, playback will continue. If users want to avoid background playback, they can pause the video before locking their phone.”
Read more: YouTube TV, our honest review
The feature is called background playback or background playback because that’s exactly what happens. If YouTube TV subscribers lock their mobile device, they can continue to hear the soundtrack of what they were just watching. Users can exit the app or lock their phone and as long as the app is not closed or the video is paused, they will continue to hear the sound.
Read more: YouTube wants you to use AI to create Shorts
This is especially intriguing because YouTube TV is now home to subscriber-only Sunday Ticket, so football fans can lock up their phones and take them in the car and still play the audio of whatever game they’ve been watching. As a subscriber to both YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket, I tested the feature on my iPhone and was able to hear the highlights of my Sunday games even though my phone screen was locked and I wasn’t watching the video portion. Skol, Vikings.
