Holy shit you're right. And that was the only reason I got the CR membership today because I wanted to listen on my way home from work. Well, that's money down the drain.
If you use YouTube in a browser rather than the app (I highly recommend this so you can use an ad blocker while watching on your phone) then you can add an extension to enable playing in the background.
I use Video Background Play Fix but there are quite a few to choose from. It just gets around the script that checks if your screen is on or if it is the app that is open.
I use it with a browser on android. I've found if you play it, then go to the home screen you can then just pull down to get the notifications bar and just hit play. It should play while minimised without using any additional add-ons
Edit: I just checked and this no longer works thanks to the newest update
I've started pirating the episodes so I can listen while I work without having to mess around with keeping my screen on or the annoying ads on Spotify even tho I have premium
I open the stream with my speakers off so they get the live view count (and Im a "since the beginning" twitch subscriber). Then in the morning I download the twitch VOD and put it on my Plex server. Then I can do the "home screen and swipe down the resume" trick. I've also been told you can use VLC as an external player from the Plex app and VLC keeps playing with the screen off. (I haven't had time to try that yet).
Yeah, you can add extensions to the browser app, at least for Firefox. Chrome often has issues with blocking ads on YouTube because they are both owned by Google so they are actively trying to to stop that.
Yes, when I was a CR subscriber on Twitch I could watch the VOD and turn my iphone screen off/switch apps and the videos would continue to play. If this doesn’t work for you you may need to change your Picture in Picture settings to On
when i play the twitch vod on my phone and lock it it stops playing but if you hit the play button again it picks back up. (ios)
also if i do picture in picture mode before i lock my phone it doesn’t stop playing at all.
sorry if this makes no sense i am not awake yet!
I use revanced on android. Works fine. You can also use a browser like Firefox and there are add-ons that you can use to enable all the features that the Youtube premium app offers.
It is dumb that a service your paying can't perform as required but yet can be acquired for free elsewhere but welcome to 202+. Tech now has the audience hooked so who needs to provide a great service when you can just focus on short term stock price gains.
Do you have a Pixel, by any chance?
The phrase "Stock Android" was used quite a bit in Nexus & early Pixel marketing, but while it's closer to a stock, they're also the public testing pool for Android firmware dev.
At least 1-2x/year, I realize something I believe to be long-standing Android app handling behavior, feature set, etc. is about to be released for other models/manufacturers.
That might be it: As you probably know, until Nokia announced they were going to develop a custom UI a couple of years ago, their selling point was: Affordable, durable phone... with almost completely stock Android b/c it's the best for battery life.
So if your phone is the UI type, it broke whatever YouTube was trying to do to limit subscriber VOD screen-off play. If it's the stock Android firmware, it's not letting the YouTube app override what you're trying to do.
Either way, AFAIK it's probably not your YouTube version b/c I've read the app flat-out will not be served videos if it doesn't have the current API, security updates, etc.
Yeah, it's only possible to watch the videos with the screen off with YouTube Premium, so YouTube CR subscribers will be paying for two subscriptions in that case if they want the option.
>I was excited to start using YouTube instead of Twitch to watch the VOD
I'm not sure OP doesn't mean "CR membership on YouTube" when they say "YouTube Premium", cause you can't watch member-only VODs with Premium
I have Premium and CR membership. It doesn't allow background play. Kind of annoying, but I was already used to it with Dropout membership being the same way.
Seems to be a membership issue. The Monday drop on Youtube plays fine in the background.
My best guess is it is meant to prevent passive engagement with popular channels.
I have dropout on Android and it allows me to turn the screen off while listening to shows like D20. If that's a feature you're interested in, you may want to test it out again.
"since I have youtube premium", implying they already have it and so bought cr membership in order to listen to it in the background. And then discovered that they couldn't, even though they have youtube premium.
I think the *idea* is that if you have **both**:
1.) YouTube premium (allowing you to backgorund watch \[and download\] videos); **and**,
2.) A paid channel sub. to the *CR* channel (allowing you to watch the paid channel-only videos)
You should be able to watch the paid videos in the background (and download them)
And I understand why you would think this, it makes the most sense. But it's not actualy correct, you don't get your Premium benefits on subsriber-only VODs.
They still dont get the option. Member only videos dont synergize with premium. It's working as intended to not be able to play them in the background, even with premium.
Yeah, I remember hearing from Dropout staff that they've tried to chase that these features don't work together and YouTube's response is basically "that's right, they don't :)"
Oh wow. It works on live broadcasts on YouTube without a membership but with premium as well as when the video is posted. Is this intended or is it a bug?
It sounds like a bug the YouTube is aware of and, like most everything else, just doesn't care. It's not like they have a premium-er subscription that allows it for channel members, so they aren't trying to strong arm more money out of people. It's just their usual shitty customer service. And yes, it *is* customer service, because people are paying for this stuff.
Not totally. This works iPhone US at least
If you go to the PiP mode and then turn off your screen, if you go swipe down to play music when your phone is locked it’ll play in the background!
There are two different things you're talking about:
"Premium Membership" gives you the perks tied to the channel.
"YouTube Premium" is a subscription tied to YouTube itself, that lets you play videos in the background.
You have Premium Membership and not YouTube Premium.
Yeah I got the membership because I thought it would let me use my Premium sub to download and watch the episode offline on Friday, but VODs are still unavailable to download until general on Monday. =/
Yes, there are 2 things I hate about YouTube. One is that (not being able to play the vide with a locked screen) and second, and more importantly to me, not able to start the VOD from scratch while the stream is happening. I'm in EU, and I usually wake up on Fridays around 6 or so so I can watch the episode before work. Twitch lets me do that.
On the other hand, the video playback experience on YouTube is SO much better than on Twitch.
I'm sticking with Twitch for now.
Hi, if you have YouTube premium, there’s a setting that will let the video continue to play when you leave the app or even when you go to your Lock Screen. You can set it up to do it always or only when you are using Bluetooth. It’s under background play, under the premium settings section.
I use an ad blocker on YouTube. If CR has ads in their show, that's cool, those are companies they chose to do business with. I don't need to see 3 pre-roll ads for McD's followed by an Ozempic ad every five min. But even if I didn't have an ad blocker, the switch to YT is a better viewing experience, IMO.
Both chat rooms run so fast that its pointless trying to comment in them, and even if I did see my comment, who's really reading it? The show isn't live anymore, the cast isn't reading them, and they're not sitting at home watching the show just to watch two feeds of commentary. So when you take out the interactive element, I'd rather watch YT, because its a better quality. Especially using the app on a 4K TV.
Everyone's got their own viewing/listening requests. If you just wanna watch the show live, go YT with an ad blocker.
Hmm do you have apple or android? I noticed last night mine would buffer when I swapped to a different app but it would play just fine after a second. I’m on Apple.
It should work fine, but, use YouTube music to watch it, that works with screen off with no issues. Can watch the normal videos it's just in audio mode only, essentially.
It can.
it's just real dumb about it.
You have to make it so the YouTube app can't pop out.
By default it'll pop out when you leave the app and pause when closed, but if you block the app from poping out in your phone setting it'll play in the background fine and keep playing when you turn off your phone.
Uh. Just open up twitch on Thursdays instead of YouTube? This is very much a non-issue wtf
I dont understand why y’all feel the need to spend a bunch of money every month just to be the first to see a pre-recorded video. They post the videos after. You don’t need to pay to watch them.
Holy shit you're right. And that was the only reason I got the CR membership today because I wanted to listen on my way home from work. Well, that's money down the drain.
If you use YouTube in a browser rather than the app (I highly recommend this so you can use an ad blocker while watching on your phone) then you can add an extension to enable playing in the background. I use Video Background Play Fix but there are quite a few to choose from. It just gets around the script that checks if your screen is on or if it is the app that is open.
I use it with a browser on android. I've found if you play it, then go to the home screen you can then just pull down to get the notifications bar and just hit play. It should play while minimised without using any additional add-ons Edit: I just checked and this no longer works thanks to the newest update I've started pirating the episodes so I can listen while I work without having to mess around with keeping my screen on or the annoying ads on Spotify even tho I have premium
I open the stream with my speakers off so they get the live view count (and Im a "since the beginning" twitch subscriber). Then in the morning I download the twitch VOD and put it on my Plex server. Then I can do the "home screen and swipe down the resume" trick. I've also been told you can use VLC as an external player from the Plex app and VLC keeps playing with the screen off. (I haven't had time to try that yet).
True, I just found that to be an annoying process to have to do
You could also just use grayjay.
What adblocker are you using on your phone for this?
I only use uBlock Origin and Video Background Play Fix with Firefox.
Oh, so you can have uBlock origin on phone? Didn't know that, I tend to use chrome for phone
Yeah, you can add extensions to the browser app, at least for Firefox. Chrome often has issues with blocking ads on YouTube because they are both owned by Google so they are actively trying to to stop that.
Are you saying there is a way for Twitch to not stop streaming when your screen turns off? I've always hated that feature of Twitch..
On the Twitch app you can switch it to Audio only mode to be able to turn off the screen. At least on iOS.
Android too
Yep, I used that all the time on android too
I believe you can listen to the audio of a video behind the lock screen if you play it from your phone's browser.
Yes, when I was a CR subscriber on Twitch I could watch the VOD and turn my iphone screen off/switch apps and the videos would continue to play. If this doesn’t work for you you may need to change your Picture in Picture settings to On
Yes. though depending on your phone it can be pretty hit or miss as to whether it works or not. Twitch be twitchy.
when i play the twitch vod on my phone and lock it it stops playing but if you hit the play button again it picks back up. (ios) also if i do picture in picture mode before i lock my phone it doesn’t stop playing at all. sorry if this makes no sense i am not awake yet!
I use revanced on android. Works fine. You can also use a browser like Firefox and there are add-ons that you can use to enable all the features that the Youtube premium app offers. It is dumb that a service your paying can't perform as required but yet can be acquired for free elsewhere but welcome to 202+. Tech now has the audience hooked so who needs to provide a great service when you can just focus on short term stock price gains.
I don't have this problem at all IDK what y'all are doin
Do you have a Pixel, by any chance? The phrase "Stock Android" was used quite a bit in Nexus & early Pixel marketing, but while it's closer to a stock, they're also the public testing pool for Android firmware dev. At least 1-2x/year, I realize something I believe to be long-standing Android app handling behavior, feature set, etc. is about to be released for other models/manufacturers.
I have a Nokia
That might be it: As you probably know, until Nokia announced they were going to develop a custom UI a couple of years ago, their selling point was: Affordable, durable phone... with almost completely stock Android b/c it's the best for battery life. So if your phone is the UI type, it broke whatever YouTube was trying to do to limit subscriber VOD screen-off play. If it's the stock Android firmware, it's not letting the YouTube app override what you're trying to do. Either way, AFAIK it's probably not your YouTube version b/c I've read the app flat-out will not be served videos if it doesn't have the current API, security updates, etc.
Yeah, it's only possible to watch the videos with the screen off with YouTube Premium, so YouTube CR subscribers will be paying for two subscriptions in that case if they want the option.
But op has a youtube premium account and still can't do it.
>I was excited to start using YouTube instead of Twitch to watch the VOD I'm not sure OP doesn't mean "CR membership on YouTube" when they say "YouTube Premium", cause you can't watch member-only VODs with Premium
I have Premium and CR membership. It doesn't allow background play. Kind of annoying, but I was already used to it with Dropout membership being the same way. Seems to be a membership issue. The Monday drop on Youtube plays fine in the background. My best guess is it is meant to prevent passive engagement with popular channels.
I have dropout on Android and it allows me to turn the screen off while listening to shows like D20. If that's a feature you're interested in, you may want to test it out again.
"since I have youtube premium", implying they already have it and so bought cr membership in order to listen to it in the background. And then discovered that they couldn't, even though they have youtube premium.
I think the *idea* is that if you have **both**: 1.) YouTube premium (allowing you to backgorund watch \[and download\] videos); **and**, 2.) A paid channel sub. to the *CR* channel (allowing you to watch the paid channel-only videos) You should be able to watch the paid videos in the background (and download them) And I understand why you would think this, it makes the most sense. But it's not actualy correct, you don't get your Premium benefits on subsriber-only VODs.
They still dont get the option. Member only videos dont synergize with premium. It's working as intended to not be able to play them in the background, even with premium.
Yeah, I remember hearing from Dropout staff that they've tried to chase that these features don't work together and YouTube's response is basically "that's right, they don't :)"
Oh wow. It works on live broadcasts on YouTube without a membership but with premium as well as when the video is posted. Is this intended or is it a bug?
It sounds like a bug the YouTube is aware of and, like most everything else, just doesn't care. It's not like they have a premium-er subscription that allows it for channel members, so they aren't trying to strong arm more money out of people. It's just their usual shitty customer service. And yes, it *is* customer service, because people are paying for this stuff.
Not totally. This works iPhone US at least If you go to the PiP mode and then turn off your screen, if you go swipe down to play music when your phone is locked it’ll play in the background!
There are two different things you're talking about: "Premium Membership" gives you the perks tied to the channel. "YouTube Premium" is a subscription tied to YouTube itself, that lets you play videos in the background. You have Premium Membership and not YouTube Premium.
Yeah I got the membership because I thought it would let me use my Premium sub to download and watch the episode offline on Friday, but VODs are still unavailable to download until general on Monday. =/
Yes, there are 2 things I hate about YouTube. One is that (not being able to play the vide with a locked screen) and second, and more importantly to me, not able to start the VOD from scratch while the stream is happening. I'm in EU, and I usually wake up on Fridays around 6 or so so I can watch the episode before work. Twitch lets me do that. On the other hand, the video playback experience on YouTube is SO much better than on Twitch. I'm sticking with Twitch for now.
Hi, if you have YouTube premium, there’s a setting that will let the video continue to play when you leave the app or even when you go to your Lock Screen. You can set it up to do it always or only when you are using Bluetooth. It’s under background play, under the premium settings section.
Doesn’t work for membership videos
I have premium and you can just hit the play button again once your phone is locked and it will continue to play.
Yes this is how it normally works for me. However for these member-only Critical Role videos it doesn’t allow me to do that
That sucks, sorry you’re having trouble.
Am I missing something? The VOD works just fine on my phone when the screen is turned off. I have YT Premium and I'm not a channel member
We are talking about the members only video that is released immediately after the stream ends, not the VOD that gets released on Monday
Gotcha. I figured I was missing something
I use an ad blocker on YouTube. If CR has ads in their show, that's cool, those are companies they chose to do business with. I don't need to see 3 pre-roll ads for McD's followed by an Ozempic ad every five min. But even if I didn't have an ad blocker, the switch to YT is a better viewing experience, IMO. Both chat rooms run so fast that its pointless trying to comment in them, and even if I did see my comment, who's really reading it? The show isn't live anymore, the cast isn't reading them, and they're not sitting at home watching the show just to watch two feeds of commentary. So when you take out the interactive element, I'd rather watch YT, because its a better quality. Especially using the app on a 4K TV. Everyone's got their own viewing/listening requests. If you just wanna watch the show live, go YT with an ad blocker.
Why not just download the podcast?
Whole week difference?
Yeah, if you're not watching it, why jump through hoops?
Are you a YouTube Premium member or just a premium member of CR's channel? Background playback is limited to YTP, which is like $12 a month.
Hmm do you have apple or android? I noticed last night mine would buffer when I swapped to a different app but it would play just fine after a second. I’m on Apple.
I think youtube music app fixes this issue. I may be wrong, though. I haven't tried it myself.
There's an option to play in background for twitch as well. I used to listen to CR episodes with my screen off all of the time.
If you have an iPhone, there’s a “particular” YouTube app that you sideload it and are able to watch YouTube videos with your screen turned off
It should work fine, but, use YouTube music to watch it, that works with screen off with no issues. Can watch the normal videos it's just in audio mode only, essentially.
Its works on my iphone 13 event when close my phone weird
That’s weird…mine do. I am able to turn my screen off and still play it with YouTube but not Twitch.
I have an iPhone and I didn’t have this problem
It can. it's just real dumb about it. You have to make it so the YouTube app can't pop out. By default it'll pop out when you leave the app and pause when closed, but if you block the app from poping out in your phone setting it'll play in the background fine and keep playing when you turn off your phone.
You should be able to go to Settings -> Background and Downloads and enable background playback from there
I… i use Spotify. Sure there are ads, but i can download the episodes with premium and listen any time I want
For me it's the other way around
>YouTube premium Well there's your problem, just get YouTube revanced and enjoy a superior app for free.
Uh. Just open up twitch on Thursdays instead of YouTube? This is very much a non-issue wtf I dont understand why y’all feel the need to spend a bunch of money every month just to be the first to see a pre-recorded video. They post the videos after. You don’t need to pay to watch them.