I love listening to music on YouTube because it always recommends tracks that I love. To listen to music offline on the go, I decided to download YouTube to MP3 on iPhone. Here, I will show you 5 different ways to do it.
The good thing is that you don’t need to download third-party apps unless you intend to. You can download any YouTube video to MP3/MP4 including private YouTube videos.
YouTube to MP3 Downloader Shortcut
Since iOS 13, Shortcuts has become a stock app on iPhone or iPad for automation. You can also use a pre-made iOS shortcut to download YouTube to MP3. When you open the Shortcuts app for first time, it will be empty there. You will need to get a custom shortcut for downloading YouTube videos.
According to Apple, all the shared shortcuts outside of the Shortcuts Gallery will be regarded as untrusted. In that case, you may need to first allow untrusted shortcuts in Settings to import shortcuts based on the iOS version.
Step 1. Get Chrunos Multi Downloader shortcut (updated for iOS 17) from my video downloader shortcuts collection.
Step 2. Open the YouTube app and play the video that you want to convert to MP3.
Step 3. Tap Share and then select “More”. Scroll down to select Snap Video from share sheet.
Step 4. Select MP3 to let the shortcut to rip MP3 from YouTube videos on iPhone.
Step 5. Select a location to save the downloaded audio file. You can save it on iPhone or iCloud.
After completion, you can open the Files app to find the MP3 file that you just downloaded. If you don’t want to get prompted to select a location, you can find the Save File action and toggle off the option “Ask Where”. If you want to explore more about shortcuts, you can check other YouTube shortcuts for downloading and more.
YouTube to MP3 Telegram Bot
If you use Telegram, you can also use a Telegram bot to convert YouTube to MP3 on iPhone or iPad. You just open Telegram and search for this “@scdlbot” to download YouTube audio to iPhone or iPad. Besides YouTube, this bot allows you to download tracks and sets from SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc.
Type “/start” and then paste the URL of a YouTube video to get started. This bot will deliver the audio file for you in Telegram and you can tap Share to save the audio file in another location. If you like this Telegram method, you probably will be interested in more Telegram bots for downloading music.
Convert YouTube to MP3 Online
Since iOS 13, Safari allows you to download files on iPhone, so you can easily use any online YouTube downloader to download YouTube video to MP3. After testing a few of them, I recommend Loader.to. It is a free online multi-source downloader that enables you to download videos to MP3 or MP4 from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
You can just paste the YouTube video URL to Loader.to and click the ”Download’ button to start downloading. By default, it will download YouTube videos as MP3. You can also change it to M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, etc. All music videos are supported.
You can also paste a playlist URL to download YouTube playlist to MP3. For playlists, you can also choose which video to start or end. However, I do not recommend using an online downloader to download a YouTube playlist because it does not work well in terms of connection loss or running in the background.
Like many other online downloaders, it allows you to download public YouTube videos that anyone can view without a YouTube account. You won’t be able to use it to download YouTube Age-restricted videos or private videos. Also, be aware of the ads.
Local YouTube Downloader Script
If you prefer using a browser to watch YouTube videos, I highly suggest you use this custom script to download YouTube to MP3. There are a few methods to run userscripts on iPhone. You can either get the Safari extension, Stay, which is a userscripts manager, or use Via Browser.
Step 1. Install the Stay extension for Safari or install the Via Browser.
Step 2. Add a YouTube Downloader script. You can search and find one on the Greasefork website. The Local YouTube Downloader script is currently not working. Other scripts may use a third-party service, so I don’t recommend one here.
Step 3. Once added, go to YouTube and you will see Show/Hide Links. Click it to show audio options.
Step 4. Select one audio option to download YouTube as audio.
Step 5. If it does not start downloading automatically, tap Share and select Save to Files in the next tab.
You can use this method to download YouTube videos or audio on iPhone or iPad. It also supports private YouTube videos and age-restricted videos if you log in.
Extract Audio from YouTube with a Free App
YSBrowser is a free browser app that can download most of the videos that you can watch online. Previously, I have recommended it for downloading videos from Fmovies. Here, let’s see how to use it to extract audio from YouTube on iPhone.
Step 1. Download YSBrowser from App Store on your iPhone or iPad. It is a free app.
Step 2. Use YSBrowser to watch the YouTube video that you want to convert to audio. On iPhone, it will automatically play in a small window like YouTube Picture in Picture Mode. On iPad, tap the blue box on the top left to play it in PIP mode.
Step 3. Tap on the video and you will see a Download icon. Tap on the Download icon to download the video.
Step 4. Tap the Menu button at the bottom and select Download to see the downloaded files.
Step 5. Long press on the downloaded video and select “Extract audio (slow)”.
Step 6. When done, tap the File tab on the top to see the audio file.
If you log in to YouTube, it allows you to download age-restricted YouTube videos and private videos. As a browser, YSBrowser offers a fast, secure, and private browsing experience with features such as file download, export, video mini-window playback, screencasting, resource sniffing, developer tools, etc.
Conclusion
These are all the 5 different ways to download YouTube to MP3 on iPhone or iPad. Hopefully, you have learned something new and useful. Personally, I like the YouTube to MP3 shortcut approach the most. Which one do you prefer?
If you encounter any issues while applying these methods, please let me know in the comments. I will help you as best as I can. If you need to talk in private, you can find me on the contact page.
If you have a Mac, and why not, you can also use the free YouTube to MP3 app for the Mac, and then transfer the file to your iPhone via AirDrop. It is very reliable and quick.
Waleed,
You can use iTunes to transfer downloaded music to the Music app. If you don’t want to use a PC or Mac, then the only option is Jailbreaking.
But the audio i download didn’t go to the music app…….
I want the audio i download in music app….
This actually worked!!!!! I used the shortcuts method💣🔥 YOU ARE AMAZING!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🙏 THANK YOU