This article was published on July 29, 2016

This Android app lets you multi-task while watching YouTube videos


This Android app lets you multi-task while watching YouTube videos

I love watching YouTube videos on my phone, but I don’t like being restricted to having the app open to enjoy them: why can’t I have it play clips in the background or in a small window while I continue to browse Reddit or flip through my to-do lists?

That’s where Flytube comes in handy. This clever Android app plays YouTube videos in a pop-up window that can sit on top of any other app or your homescreen, so you can multi-task like a champ.

Flytube screenshots

Once you’ve set it up, Flytube will load every time you tap a link to a YouTube video. In some cases, such as when the video is embedded on a web page, you can invoke Flytube by calling up the app using the share option for that clip.

The app works as advertised and lets you reposition the video anywhere on your screen. Shell out about $1.20 and you’ll unlock the ability to resize the playback window too.

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I found it especially handy for using along with Pocket, Chrome, and Sync Pro for Reddit – being able to play a video while continuing to browse through content or simply enjoying the audio from a YouTube clip while doing something else on my phone is certainly a boon, and definitely worth downloading the app.

However, it’s worth noting that videos won’t continue to play if you lock or turn off your screen; that’s against YouTube’s terms and would get the app kicked off the API in no time. You’ll need YouTube Red for that.

After using it for a few minutes, I was only too happy to fork over the low in-app purchase price to enable window resizing. It’s particularly handy on the massive 6.5-inch Mi Max that I’m reviewing, and nice to have on smaller devices too.

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