Guide to Download Music from YouTube to Android/iPhone [2026]

Not only as a video-sharing media platform, but YouTube is also a good place to enjoy unique music resources. But listening to music offline is restricted by the network conditions and platform rules. Explore details of 4 methods to listen to downloaded YouTube music anytime.

(Legal note: Downloads are applied only to copyright-free, public domain, or authorized personal use. Commercial profit is strictly prohibited.)

Part 1. Using the YouTube App [Official Way]

Best for: Trust the official download channels and have a YouTube Premium membership.

Common users of YouTube are often interrupted by numerous ads. Alternatively, when you lock your screen or switch to another app, the music will pause automatically. However, these issues can be solved if you pay for YouTube Premium. Of course, it’s a prerequisite to download the songs to your phone for listening offline. The subscribers can download YouTube music to their phone within the app directly and quickly.

Here is a step-by-step guide [OS supported: Android, iOS, Web]:

Step 1. Go to the YouTube Music app on your phone and log in to your Premium account. New users can get a 1-month free trial.

Step 2. Select the songs, playlists, or albums you want to save. Click the three-dot menu at the top to find the download option.

Step 3. Find the music through Downloads > Library. You can also turn on Smart downloads in the settings. Then the favorite songs in your listening history will be automatically saved under the Wi-Fi network condition.

Author Note: It’s the most immediate way for mobile users. YouTube allows up to 100, 000 downloaded tracks per device and up to five simultaneous devices per account only for Premium users. But once your YouTube subscription expires, the music won’t be played. As Google Help Center reported, users must connect YouTube on your phone to the internet at least once every 30 days to keep your downloads active. For that situation, I suspect I might say, "I will never subscribe anymore! Too much hassle!" My music collection has never belonged to me.

Part 2. Using an Unlimited Desktop Software [Best]

Best for: Downloads high-quality YouTube music to secure permanent local digital ownership and unlimited enjoyment.

As mentioned, keeping an indefinite subscription is a considerable expense. There’s a question about how to download music from YouTube to your phone without Premium. You need to try a legal third-party tool to achieve it. TopVox YouTube Music Converter is an all-in-one, comprehensive music downloader. You can enjoy and download lossless music to multiple formats in the embedded streaming platforms of the app. Downloaded songs will retain the audio quality of the original tracks and keep ID3 tags for better management. You can download the app by clicking the link below. Let’s get a free trial!

Step 1. Run the app on your computer. Choose and log in the YouTube Music in the main interface.

Step 2. Find the playlist you want to save and click Add to Convert.

Step 3. Customize the output settings. And hit Convert Now to download the YouTube playlist to MP3.

Step 4. After the conversion finishes, you can transfer the songs from your local computer to your Android phone for offline listening.

Supported by DRM-removal technology, TopVox All Music Converter downloads the music from YouTube to your phone safely, and the success rate reaches 99%. Its clean interface and amazing downloading speed have also attracted mass attention.

User Review

In my test, I batch download 5 playlists with less than 500 songs from YouTube with this downloader. Well, the output audio quality is satisfied. Every track is keeping the same kbps with audio source…Although I didn't check each song one by one, I compared many of them. I believe they are all haha.

Part 3. Via Online Music Downloader

Best for: Someone needs a quick track extraction on any device without installing any software for casual downloading.

If you don’t want to install any software, we recommend YouTube to MP3 Converter. It is an online YouTube to MP3 converter that requires no installation, adapting to different systems and devices, including Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. It offers unlimited daily downloads of music from YouTube to your phone for free. And the simple operation process effectively meets the need for YouTube audio downloads.

Step 1. Open your YouTube mobile app and find the target videos. Click Share > Copy link to copy the URL.

Step 2. Access to the web converter in your mobile browser. Press the search box to paste the link and click Go.

Step 3. After loading the video, you can personalize output parameters, like audio format and quality.

Step 4. Click the Convert button. When the conversion finishes, you can tap the Download button to store the music.

A unique feature is that it supports saving converted audio to other devices. You can download music to another phone by scanning the generated QR code. During the audio conversion process, this tool may display full-screen pop-up ads that require manual closure by the user. These ads affect the operational experience. Additionally, it's just very time-consuming to convert. One song typically costs several minutes.

Limitations

Many people have their doubts about security of most online YouTube to MP3 downloaders. As Reddit Plastic-Ad-6017 poster said, "I've tried probably 20 different YouTube to MP3 converters and they all suck. Popups everywhere, fake download buttons, viruses, the whole nightmare."

From testing results, the online tool would download a song from YouTube to my iPhone to an even worse sounding copy…However, some users don’t mind about quality. They merely don’t want to download an entire additional software just to back up a song. For me, if open up a unsafe website to download tracks, I don’t want a Pyrrhic victory!

Part 4. Via an Android App

Best for: Android users to download YouTube songs for offline playback without a Premium account.

For many Android users, the YouTube app does not work on their phone with a limitation of Google. It’s unavailable to download or play the content in the background. But you can do it all with NewPipe. You can download high-quality audio and video from YouTube without worrying about security. It freely offers special features that the official YouTube app.

The downloading operation is familiar with Part 3:

Step 1. Download the NewPipe app on Android.

Step 2. Copy the link to the music you want to download from YouTube.

Step 3. aste the link into the search box at NewPipe.

Step 4. Click Download and choose the audio to adjust the output format

Testing Experience

We used this app on a Samsung galaxy s24 over a Wi-Fi connection. At first, I can’t find it on the Google Play Store maybe It’s an open-source software? Finally I checked the source code and obtain the APK from GitHub to download it. Downloading a 3-minute song took an average of 6 seconds, and the audio quality was verified as 160kbps MP3.

In terms of MP3 audio, many users have also reported that a lot of songs sound terrible:

"I've downloaded a bunch of music from NewPipe…I've used any official upload I could find and downloaded at the highest kpbs available (160 kpbs) but audio still sounds terrible. It also only downloads in .opus format and I'm wondering." - Lobstersdamnit_2 from Reddit

FAQs on Downloading YouTube Music to a Phone

Conclusion

With different types of YouTube users and various devices, there are several ways to download music from YouTube to your phone. Using the official method, please confirm you have already paid for the Premium. The online converter is convenient, but you should think ahead the security and stability risks. We prefer the safe desktop software TopVox All Music Converter to other tools. It can deliver a perfect conversion and meets all the requirements of downloading, including speed, efficiency, quality and etc.

Owen Bannett

Owen Bannett is a music enthusiasm as well as a senior writer. He has paid close attention on the pros & cons of various audio formats, bitrate, sample rate and encoding methods. Always seeking the best listening experience, Owen has deep insights about lossless music and diverse music converters on the markets.