Categories: NewsTech

How to listen to YouTube with the screen off on a Xiaomi with MIUI 11 or MIUI 12

YouTube is not a music streaming platform like yes it is Youtube Music, and therefore it does not have an activated feature that these do: the possibility that the playback continues once we turn off the phone screen. In fact, switching from one app to another and leaving YouTube in the background also stops the video unless we pull up a floating window. On phones where this is allowed, of course.

But MIUI has a function implemented in its version 11, and that has been automatically inherited by MIUI 12, which allows us to solve this and turn YouTube into, virtually, a ‘Spotify’, an ‘Apple Music’ or any other streaming service. This function is located in the video toolbox that we can activate in the special functions of the system. We show you how to do it.

How to continue listening to YouTube with the screen off without an app

As we say, MIUI 11 and MIUI 12 include an option to allow watching YouTube videos, and in general any app capable of playing video, with the screen off. It will be up to us to decide, once activated, if we want to use a Bluetooth speaker, headphones or the speaker of the phone itself. We show you how to activate this option through a few simple steps.

In Engadget

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To be able to activate this option we have to go to the Settings of the phone, and once there we locate the section Special functions which is just below ‘Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls’. We access and enter in turn Video Toolbox, the second option of all. Now various options are unfolding before us and we have to do the following.

We must have activated Video Toolbox and Direct access to the Video Toolbox. This will be essential to be able to access it from YouTube later. With both options activated, we can decide where the box will appear in the next option between Left or Right. Now, and this is essential, it is time to activate the box for Youtube. This is done from the last option: Manage video applications. We go in and make sure to leave Youtube marked before leaving, almost everything is done.

Once we have activated the box and we have told MIUI 11/12 that it has to also use it with YouTube, let’s go to the Youtube app to prove it. All we have to do is open any video in the app and look at the screen. On the side that we have specified (left or right) we will have a brand on screen, a horizontal line of just over a centimeter on the edge. It indicates to us that there is something there to display. We slide our finger from outside to inside the screen and voila, video toolbox unfolded.

Now we have to slide our finger again on the first row of icons to show the fourth option. After “Record”, “Screenshot” and “Cast” should appear Play sound with screen off accompanied by an icon of an ear. We activate it and voila, everything is done. Now we can play the video that we had on the screen and change the app or turn off the phone screen and the video will continue to sound as if we were still with the app open in front of our eyes. Ideal for conferences, tutorials or video clips of all kinds. Enjoy it, we leave you with the summary step by step.

How to play Youtube with the screen off on MIUI 11/12

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We open the app Settings.
We access Special functions.
We locate and open Video Toolbox.
We activate the first two options.
We decide the position of the box in the third.
We activate YouTube in the fourth option, that of Manage apps.
We open Youtube again.
We navigate to any video we want.
We deploy the video toolbox.
We sailed down the front row to Play sound with screen off and we activate it.
ReadyWe can already hear it even if we turn off the phone screen.