Are there any ways to just listen to the audio on YouTube videos so that I can save on downloads and data?

U Tube Alternative.. Why not try "Say Play". This is a nice app. to search for music and other topics. It can be found under Music but I also use it ie: viewing nursery rythms, movies old T.V. programs and even techical info. It is very easy to use, just say what you are interest and more than not it will start playing. I just listen to Perry Mason and the grand kids watched Little Red Riding Hood. This is a great app. but not utilized to it's fullest. Hopes this gets you started and don't forget about Amazon Music.
Enjoy!

say play still downloads the video. don't know of anything on the phone that will do what your looking for unfortunately. If anyone finds anything I would also be interested.

Me as well. I don't think that theres a way to listen to youtube videos without the video. On the mac or windows side there is a website called listen to youtube. It's real easy to use. You find the URL of the youtube video you want to convert on youtube itself, then copy and paste it into the edit box that says something like paste URL here. Then click enter on that once you've pasted it. Then the site converts the video to audio mp3 file and you can then download it to your computer. This site works great for youtube music videos that you want.
As I said earlier, there's no way to just get the audio from the video unless you convert the video itself which also uses data, or wifi internet.
HTH!

YouPlayer will let you do just that. You can choose different playback quality for WiFi and celular data, all the way down to SD 240P.
Hope that might work for you. Here is the AppleVis entry for YouPlayer:
http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/entertainment/youplayer-video-player-youtube

If you use YouPlayer, just remember that there seems to be an issue now with ads. Every so often, during playback, you'll be thrown into the app store. I just use the app switcher, close the app store, and return to YouPlayer to pick up where I left off.

I just bought the app recently, because I was sick and tired of the ads. Now though, when I type in a search term, I only get 50 results. I tried double tap and hold to drag up from the bottom thinking that would refresh the list and give me more, but it doesn't… Weird

Hi I discovered this app which enables audio mode when playing youtube videos. The super cool feature is you can even play movies in locked screen. The buttons are not labelled, so I am still trying to figure out which button is which. Here is a link where you can download this app.
Tubex - Videos and Music for YouTube by Baslas Lian
https://appsto.re/us/arDb4.i

Hope this helps. If anybody finds out what each button is, would you please post commentsThank you.

Using the free app YouTube Music ( yt music) you can select audio only using a small button near the top right of the screen. So simple and very effective. This saves on bandwidth as no video is downloaded and it allows background play.

Please note the alternate solution of playing a clip from a lock screen does not work. The video is still downloaded.

I have tried numerous other apps that promise audio only and this is the only one which delivers on its promise and allow full access to YouTube.

Happy listening to the millions of tracks available on YouTube.

The ability to play audio only would be a nice feature. I remember the days of limited bandwidth and I would set my computer browser to not download graphics or pictures. Web pages loaded a lot faster.

But for folks who don't need or want the video or graphics the ability to turn both on/off is handy.

--Pete

How do you know that the video is not downloaded and converted and only the audio is played in yt music?

It could very well download the video but do not display it ...

on a side note listentoyoutube might very well be used on the iPhone ... not practical because you must get the video url ... however it might be used if needed.

I find YouTube Red well worth investing in. You get ad free videos, background playback, and audio playback with the screen locked. I use this on my phone quite a bit. In addition to the extra YouTube features, you get ad free Google Play Music, and all on-demand features, meaning you can play any song, album, artist, whatever, on demand as long as its in their catalog. Yes, it's a paid subscription, but you get a lot for it, including audio playback when the phone is locked.

Looks like you have to sign up and pay for You Tube Red to use this feature.

Yes, Youtube Red is the way to go. Another bonus is it comes packaged with Google Music if you get a subscription.

I just got YT Premium and am loving it. I’d encourage anyone who is curious about it to try their free trial to see if its right for you. My wife And I traveled last week to see relatives and it was awesome to be able to download a bunch of videos to watch on our flights. Also, the background playback is awesome. Only thing I’d like to see is the option to download audio only, as video data takes up lots of space on your device. Still, very cool service and I’m definitely gonna keep it after the trial is over.

I do love it indeed. One thing that is a bit irritating, though, is that when using the Google Play Music app, when you are browsing an album and trying to navigate through tracks, Voiceover on the iPhone seems to lose its focus quite often. I think this is an app issue rather than one that Voiceover created. Still, the fact I can use it in a web browser with excellent hotkey support or on my Sonos speakrs (not the YouTube part unfortunately), is really awesome.