How can I play music while using other apps on Android Samsung?

Most Android users want the ability to play music or other audio in the background while they use other apps on their phone. It allows for a better multitasking experience and matches what’s available on iPhones and other operating systems. However, on some Android devices, especially Samsung, audio from one app will stop when another app is opened due to limitations in the software. This article provides solutions to enable background audio playback so music or podcasts can keep playing while you use other apps on your Samsung Android device.

Enable Picture-in-Picture Mode

Picture-in-picture (PiP) mode allows you to watch a video in a small window pinned to the corner of your screen while using other apps. This lets you play music from a video streaming app like YouTube and continue browsing other apps.

To enable PiP mode on Android, open the YouTube app and start playing a video. Tap the PiP icon in the top right corner – it looks like a small box inside another box. The video will shrink down into a small floating player that stays on top of other app windows.

You can drag the PiP window around and position it wherever you want. The audio will keep playing even as you switch to other apps. This way you can have a YouTube music playlist going while texting friends or checking email. PiP makes it easy to multitask without having to stop your music.

According to Add videos using picture-in-picture (PiP), “PiP is a special type of multi-window mode mostly used for video playback. It lets the user watch a video in a small window pinned to a corner of the screen while simultaneously interacting with other apps.”

Use Split Screen Mode

Split screen mode allows you to view and interact with two apps at the same time on your Android device. To use split screen:

Open the app you want to listen to music in first.
Tap the Recent Apps button and select the music app you want to use.
In the music app view that opens above the first app, select a song to play.

Now you can interact with both apps simultaneously. The music player will continue playing audio even when you switch focus back to the first app. This allows you to listen to songs, playlists or streaming music services while browsing the web, gaming, writing emails, and using other apps.

The split screen experience does take up more screen space than normal, so it’s best suited for larger devices like tablets or phones with big displays. But it’s a handy built-in way to play background audio from services that don’t support it natively.

Get a Music Player with Background Play

There are several popular music apps for Android that support background play, allowing you to listen to music while using other apps:

Spotify – To enable background play in Spotify, go to Settings > Background, and enable ‘Continue running in the background’. Premium account is required.
YouTube Music – YouTube Music allows background play for music by default. For music videos, you may need a Premium account to enable background play.
Amazon Music – Amazon Music has native background play support across its mobile apps. Just start a song and switch to another app.

Google Play Music – Comes preinstalled on many Android devices and allows background play by default with no special settings required.

Additionally, some third party Android music player apps like
Music Player,
AIMP, MediaMonkey, and Pulsar also support background play.

Use a Floating Widget

One solution is to use a floating widget for your music player. Floating widgets are mini overlay apps that float over top of whatever app you’re currently using. They allow you to access music controls from anywhere in your phone, and save you from having to exit the app you’re using.

There are several free floating music widgets for Android. Some popular options include Floating Music, FloatingTube, and Float Widgets.

These widgets provide easy access to play/pause, previous/next track buttons, volume control, playlists, and more. You simply launch the floating widget, then open any other app you want to use. The music controls stay visible so you can change songs, adjust volume, etc without leaving the app you’re in.

Floating widgets are handy when you want to listen to music from YouTube, Spotify, Pandora or other apps while simultaneously using navigation, gaming, reading or productivity apps. They let you enjoy tunes seamlessly while staying focused on another task.

Lower/Mute Other App Volumes

To manage multiple audio sources while playing music, you may want to mute or lower the volume of other apps. Thankfully on Android, there are ways to control sound levels on a per-app basis.

Using an app like Sound Assistant, you can set custom volume levels for each app. So if you want to play a game’s sound effects while listening to music, you can turn down the game volume independently. This gives you finer control instead of one system-wide volume.

Some Android versions like 12 and 13 also have built-in per-app volume controls under Settings > Sound & vibration > App volume. Here you can mute or adjust levels without needing a separate utility.

It’s also worth exploring your music player app’s audio settings. For example, Spotify has an “Audio quality” option to choose a lower bitrate when on limited data. This could help minimize background resource usage.

Enable Pop-up Playback

YouTube has a pop-up playback feature that allows you to minimize videos so they float on top of other apps you’re using. Here’s how to enable it on Android:

Open the YouTube app and start playing a video

Tap the mini player button in the bottom right corner to minimize the video
The video will shrink down into a small floating window that stays on top of other apps
You can drag the floating video around and reposition it as needed

Tap the video to make it fullscreen again, or close the popup player

The pop-up playback feature lets you continue watching YouTube videos while simultaneously using other apps on your Android device. It’s very useful for listening to music playlists or long videos in the background.

Use Headphone Splitter

A headphone splitter allows you to plug in multiple audio devices into one headphone jack. This enables you to listen to audio from your music player app while using other apps on your Android device.

To set this up:

Get a 3.5mm 4-pole headphone splitter or Y splitter cable. This has one jack to plug into your device, and two jacks for your headphones/earphones and separate music player device.
You’ll need a separate portable music player alongside your phone, like an older smartphone or mp3 player. These need to have headphone jacks to plug into the splitter cable.

Plug the splitter cable into your Android device’s headphone jack. Then plug your headphones/earphones into one end of the splitter cable. Plug in your other audio player to the second end of the splitter.
Now when you play music on the second device, you’ll hear it through the shared headphones alongside any audio from your current Android app.

The advantage of this method is you can get audio from multiple sources without any software restrictions. But you do need to carry around and power a second portable music player alongside your phone.

Limitations

While the methods listed above allow you to play music in the background on Android devices, there are some limitations to be aware of:

Picture-in-picture and split screen modes may not work with every app. Games and video streaming apps often block these modes due to licensing or technical restrictions (1).

Music player apps with background playback capability can drain battery life faster since the media will keep running even when the screen is off.

Floating widget features depend on what functionality the music app developers have included. The widgets may not display metadata or playback controls in some cases.

Using a headphone splitter to play audio from two sources at once can introduce noise or interference in the signal.

Android background execution limits have become more strict over time, which can disrupt background audio playback if the media app isn’t optimized properly (2). Music playback may stop if too many other apps are also running services in the background.

Conclusion

There are several methods Android users can utilize to play background music on their Samsung devices while using other apps. The easiest options are to enable picture-in-picture mode or split screen mode. This allows you to view a mini music player window while interacting with other apps.

Getting a music app that offers background playback is another convenient option. Popular choices like Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and others will continue playing even when minimized. Using a floating widget for your music player will keep playback controls accessible as you use other apps.

You can also simply lower or mute the audio of other apps selectively to allow your music to play uninterrupted. Enabling pop-up playback is another Samsung-specific feature that displays a mini player when detecting media playback.

While somewhat inconvenient, using a headphone splitter allows you to send music and other audio output to separate devices. Just be aware that not all background music solutions are compatible with other functions like phone calls.

By leveraging one of these methods, Samsung users can enjoy seamless music playback while getting other tasks done on their Android device.