How to Loop and Slow Down YouTube on Your Phone

Phone Practice on YouTube, at a Glance

To slow a YouTube video on a phone, use the app's Playback speed menu. To repeat it, turn on Loop video. To loop just one section, keep the pitch and mute a part, record the song into the Riffloop app and practise it there.

• 🐢 Speed: tap the video → Settings → Playback speed
• 🔁 Loop: Settings → Additional settings → Loop video (whole video)
• ⏪ Double-tap the left side to jump back 10 seconds
• 🚫 No section loop, key change or vocal removal in the app
• 🎙️ Riffloop records what the phone plays, up to 10 minutes
• 🎚️ Then: A-B loop, 50–150% speed with pitch held, ±12 semitones, mute parts

What Can the YouTube App Do on a Phone?

The YouTube app on iPhone and Android can change the playback speed, loop a whole video or playlist, jump back or forward 10 seconds with a double-tap, and fast-forward at 2× while you hold the screen. That's the full set of practice controls YouTube documents for phones.

Read the table honestly: for "I just want to hear this a bit slower", the YouTube app is all you need. The gap opens the moment you want to drill a short passage, which is most of what learning a part actually is.

How to Slow Down a Video in the YouTube App

Tap the video once, tap Settings (the gear), tap Playback speed, and pick a slower speed. The steps are the same on iPhone, iPad and Android, and the speed stays set for that video until you change it.

1. Open the video in the YouTube app and tap it once to show the controls.
2. Tap Settings, the gear icon on the player.
3. Tap Playback speed.
4. Choose a speed. For learning a part, start at 0.75×; drop to 0.5× for fast runs. In current versions of the app the slowest setting is 0.25×.

Two more controls from the same help page are worth knowing as a player. A double-tap on the left side of the video jumps back 10 seconds, and a double-tap on the right jumps forward 10. And tapping and holding anywhere plays at 2× until you let go, which is handy for skipping a long intro. On Android, YouTube notes you need Android 5.0 or later for playback speed (YouTube Help: speed up or slow down videos).

The app keeps the pitch where it is as it slows down, so the song stays in its key. What it can't do is slow only the passage you're learning: the speed applies to the whole video. For the wider picture of practising slowly, see slowing a song down without changing pitch.

How to Loop a Video in the YouTube App

On a phone, Loop video lives one level down in the settings: tap Settings, then Additional settings, then Loop video. The whole video then repeats. In a playlist, use the Loop button under the video instead, and tap it twice to repeat just the current video.

1. Open the video's watch screen and tap the video once.
2. Tap Settings, then Additional settings.
3. Tap Loop video. The video repeats until you switch it off the same way.
4. In a playlist: tap Loop in the playlist box under the video to repeat the playlist, then tap it again until a 1 appears in the icon to repeat the current video.

Those steps are from YouTube Help: loop videos or playlists (iPhone & iPad and Android versions), read October 18, 2026. Menus move between app versions, so if yours looks different, the help page is the place to check. Looping on a computer or a Chromebook works differently — right-click and Loop — and is covered in the Chrome looping guide.

What the YouTube App Can't Do for Practice

The YouTube app can't repeat a chosen section, slow only part of a video, change a song's key, or take out the vocals or an instrument. None of these appear in YouTube's help pages for phones, and no setting adds them.

• 🔂 No A-B loop. Loop video repeats everything, intro and outro included.
• ✂️ Clips aren't practice loops. YouTube's Clip tool cuts a 5–60 second section to share; its help page describes sharing, not repeating, and not every video can be clipped.
• 🎼 No key control. There's speed, but no pitch.
• 🎤 No mute for parts. You hear the whole mix, so a bass line under a busy chorus stays buried.
• ⭐ Premium doesn't change this. Premium's auto speed is for the Android app, English content, and not for music.

The 10-second workaround

If all you have is the YouTube app, you can fake a rough loop: set 0.75×, play the phrase, and double-tap the left side to jump back 10 seconds. It works for a phrase that ends just after a 10-second boundary, and it's fine for a quick listen on the bus. For anything you need to play twenty times in a row, the jump lands in the wrong place too often to build muscle memory.

How to Loop One Section and Slow It Down on Your Phone

Record the song into the Riffloop app while it plays in the YouTube app, then split it and practise it there: set an A-B loop around the hard bars, slow them with the pitch held, and mute the part you play. The recording and the split stay on your phone.

On iPhone (iOS 26 or later)

1. Open Riffloop, tap Add, then Record.
2. Tap Start recording, then Start Broadcast. iPhone calls it a screen broadcast because it has no audio-only option. Riffloop keeps the sound and nothing else.
3. Switch to the YouTube app and play the song from the start.
4. Switch back and tap Stop recording when the song ends. Drag the ends to trim the silence, then tap Save.

On Android (12 or later)

1. Open Riffloop, tap Add, then Record, then Start recording.
2. Allow the permissions. The first time, Android asks for the microphone permission (that's where it keeps access to the phone's own audio — the room isn't recorded), then to share your screen. Tap Start now, or Start on Android 14 and later.
3. Play the song in the YouTube app from the start.
4. Come back and tap Stop recording, or tap Riffloop's recording notification. Trim and Save.

Then practise it

1. Pick the job. Tap the recording at the top of your Songs and choose Remove vocals, Stem separation (four parts, or six with guitar and piano on Pro) or Backing track, for the whole song or one section.
2. Set the loop. Play, tap Loop where the hard bit starts (A), and Set B where it ends. Name and save it, and it's on the Loops tab tomorrow.
3. Slow it down. Tap Speed. On Android it moves in 5% steps from 50% to 150%; on iPhone a dial runs from half speed to 1.5×. The pitch stays put.
4. Mute or solo. Every part has a fader. Drop your instrument to play along, or pull everything down but the bass to hear what it's doing.

Real captures from the Riffloop Android app, using our own demo song: an A-B loop at 0.75× with the vocals off, and six faders with the guitar pulled down.

The full screen-by-screen guides are Riffloop on iPhone, Riffloop on Android and adding a song from YouTube on mobile. If you're deciding whether to install, the vocal remover app page covers what the app is and what it costs.

Which Route for Which Job?

Use the YouTube app alone when you only need the song slower or on repeat. Record it into Riffloop when you need to drill a short section, change the key or hear one part. Use a computer when you'd rather skip recording.

A 15-Minute Phone Practice Session

Our "60-second section" method: pick one 60-second section, record and split it once, then spend fifteen minutes on it: listen with your part soloed, loop the hardest bar at 70%, step the speed up in 5% jumps, and finish at full speed with your part muted. It fits inside the free plan.

1. Find the passage in the YouTube app (1 minute). Scrub to the bit you can't play yet — usually the solo, the bridge or a fill — and note the time.
2. Record and split just that section (2 minutes). Start the recording a few seconds early and trim it down; under Which part of the song, pick the section.
3. Listen with your part soloed (2 minutes). Pull the rest of the band down and hear exactly what your instrument does.
4. Loop the hardest bar at 70% (5 minutes). Set A and B tight around it and play until you get it right five times running.
5. Climb in 5% steps (3 minutes). Move up only after a clean pass; drop back one step if it falls apart.
6. Mute your part and play with the band (2 minutes). Full speed, whole section, then save the loop for tomorrow.

A worked example: a bass player learning a 12-second fill in a pop chorus. In the YouTube app at 0.75× it's still a blur, and the 10-second jump-back keeps landing a bar early. Recorded into Riffloop, the fill gets its own A-B loop, the bass is soloed so the kick drum stops masking it, and at 70% each note can be found on the neck. Ten clean reps later, the loop goes to 80%, then 90%. The same plan works for a singer's run — just solo the vocal instead. For more on the method, see learning songs by ear.

Limits to Know on a Phone

On a phone, Riffloop can't open a YouTube link, records in real time up to 10 minutes per song, and can't record apps that protect their audio. The separated parts are estimates, and on iPhone the app must stay on screen while it splits.

• 🔗 No links in the app. Files and recordings only; links work in Riffloop Studio on a computer.
• ⏱️ Real time, 10 minutes max. A four-minute song takes four minutes to record.
• 🔇 Protected audio records as silence. If a recording is empty, use a computer instead.
• 📲 iPhone: keep the app open while it splits. iPhone pauses long work in apps you leave. On Android, turn on notifications and you can lock the phone.
• 🎛️ Stems are estimates. The vocal separates cleanest; bass and the leftover part are hardest. See how AI splits a song into stems.
• ⚖️ For personal practice. Use Riffloop with music you have the right to use, and check the terms of the app you play it from.

If a recording comes back silent

1. Check the permission prompt. On iPhone you must tap Start Broadcast; on Android, allow the microphone permission and screen sharing.
2. Start the recording first, then press play in the other app, and keep the song playing until you stop.
3. Try again from the start. A recording that began before the permission was granted can miss the song.
4. Still silent? That app protects its audio. Use the Studio or the Chrome extension on a computer instead.

Common Mistakes When Practising YouTube on a Phone

Most phone practice goes wrong in the setup: practising at full speed, looping the whole song, recording the ad, and listening on Bluetooth earbuds that lag behind your playing.

1. Looping the whole video to learn one phrase. Three minutes between attempts kills the repetition that makes a part stick.
2. Going straight to 0.25×. Very slow audio smears; 0.5×–0.75× keeps the groove recognisable.
3. Recording the ad. Start the recording when the song itself begins, or trim the ad off before you save.
4. Letting a notification into the take. Turn on Do Not Disturb before you record.
5. Splitting the whole song on the free plan. Pick the 60 seconds you're practising; that's what you'll loop anyway.
6. Playing along over Bluetooth. Wireless earbuds add a delay you'll chase with your hands. Wired headphones or the phone speaker are steadier — more in practice headphones and latency.

Looping and Slowing YouTube on a Phone — FAQ

What players ask about the YouTube app's speed and loop controls on iPhone and Android, and about recording a song into Riffloop to practise it.

If You Remember Four Things

• 1 Speed: tap the video → Settings → Playback speed. Start at 0.75×.
• 2 Loop video repeats the whole video; the YouTube app has no section loop.
• 3 To loop four bars on a phone, record the song into Riffloop, then set A and B.
• 4 Practise at 70%, climb in 5% steps, finish at full speed with your part muted.

Keep Going With Riffloop