There are still tips to turn on YouTube in the background on your phone
Similar on Chrome of Android phones. If you switch to YouTube page on Chrome in desktop mode (not mobile), you can watch the video in the browser. Then exit the application and turn it back on the notification. This is the fastest way: play or stop the video right from the phone's notification or lock screen. Meanwhile, you can still open another tab and use the browser as usual.
Steps to turn on YouTube in the background on Android
Open youtube.com page on Chrome browser.
Open the 3 dots icon in the upper right corner, select Request desktop site .
Find and play the YouTube video you want to watch.
When you see a message that YouTube wants to send a notification, select accept.
Exit the Chrome app, from now on you can play back the video from your phone's notification menu.
How to turn on YouTube in the background on iOS
Download Dolphin browser on iOS here.https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dolphin-web-browser/id452204407?mt=8
Open youtube.com on Dolphin.
Find and play the YouTube video you want to watch.
Exit Dolphin app and listen to the next video from iOS Control Center.
See also: How to play YouTube videos when turning off the screen on iPhone
It is clear that Google knows that users want to listen to YouTube in the background, which is why they won this feature for YouTube Red users. However, when it comes to hard work, there are easy tips for you to use this feature. Google probably doesn't like this, but why not?