Yesterday we echoed some of the features most requested by users of the free YouTube Music plan and the main one, without a doubt, is being able to use the mobile application in the background. Y who says in the background, says with the screen offdue to limitations that make the Google alternative a very undesirable product to enjoy on the handheld device.
Why, with such a limitation, someone would want to use YouTube Music instead of Spotify, Deezer, or other similar services is a different discussion. Let’s say that the Google platform has its pluses and minuses and for those who like music outside of record companies, it is perhaps the most interesting alternative out there, if only because of how widespread it is and the number of users it has.
Of course, the YouTube Music and YouTube content catalog can be accessed, which in this case is the same, through non-traditional ways in which you will also find advantages and disadvantages. And, of course, you can pay for the service, which, after all, is the ideal way to enjoy it for many different reasons. But not everyone can, or is willing to.
Since you can’t have everything, you have to choose what to use and how to use it and in this practical article we limit ourselves to what the headline points out: how to use YouTube Music with the screen off on your Xiaomi mobile, that is, using the free plan of the service, in which if you change the app or turn off the screen, the playback stops. An insufferable can that, while they remedy it or not officially, I could manage… with nuances.
The nuances are the obvious ones: use YouTube Music for free, do it with the screen off and have a Xiaomi mobile (BIT, Redmi); that is, a mobile that uses MIUI as a user interface. Needless to say, this “trick” also works with the normal YouTube application and with any other that requires foreground to work.
How to use YouTube Music with the screen off on your Xiaomi mobile
Doing it is very simple. You go to: «Settings > Special features > Floating windows > Sidebar > Video apps»and you will see that there is already some added. Well, you add the ones you want to use. For example, YouTube Music… (!). On the previous screen you can also add a game and even check the “Always show” option, although the latter can be a bit annoying. In any case, this configuration has no loss.
From now on, every time you open the YouTube Music, YouTube or any other app that you have added to the list, you will see a small line appear on the side of the screen that you can position where it is most comfortable for you by dragging and dropping and that When unfolding it, it shows different options. The one that interests you is the one that has the ear icon: “Play video sound with screen off.”
So you give the play On YouTube Music or YouTube, you display the menu, click the button and your mobile screen will turn off, but the music -or whatever you’re listening to- will continue to play.
With the floating windows function, you can do some trickery to use a couple of apps while listening to music in the background, but it doesn’t work as well and the invention isn’t as manageable.
