VKontakte has long ceased to be a typical social network for communication and new acquaintances. Now, this is a place where users store personal information, from favorite tracks and movies to family photo and video shoots.
One of the most popular functions of the site is listening to music, and on this, the administration decided to make extra money. In April 2022, users of the mobile application received an unpleasant surprise in the form of a listening limit of 1 hour per day (later the time was reduced to 30 minutes), for the web version, advertising was included that played before the composition.
The innovation was negatively received by the audience, and options began to appear to remove the restriction. Today we will only talk about working methods that any user can implement.
A popular way to listen to music without restrictions
By releasing new versions of the mobile application, VK constantly closes “holes” with the help of which users bypass the limit on listening to music. In order not to be left without your favorite tracks at the most inconvenient moment, download the entire playlist from your page to your phone.
Downloading music is associated with certain risks - loss of access to your account and subsequent recovery. The Telegram bot - @vkm4bot (detailed instructions for working with the bot) will help you reduce risks and download all the songs at once.
Do you want to take a risk? Take advantage of popular online services:
- Kissvk.com;
- Downloadmusicvk.ru;
- Music7s.me.
You can also find instructions for working with them at the link above.
Ways to save to a gadget
If you need to download music from VK to your iPhone, do one of two simple but proven methods:
- Copy the name of the song and paste it into the search bar in your browser. Download the ringtone by clicking on the link that appears.
- Install the SaveForm.net application for the social network. Reboot your gadget. An icon with an arrow pointing down will appear opposite the melody. Click it. The musical composition will be saved in the device memory.
If you have access to the Internet, then enjoy your favorite tunes online. Go to VKontakte, select “Audio” in the menu, turn on the desired song. Edit the list of works in the same way - delete them, look for new ones.
On a note!
First make sure that the antivirus program is running on your phone. If you download a file from an untrusted file, you may download a malicious virus, which will lead to problems with the operation of the device.
Change the time on your phone
The allotted 30 minutes has ended and the music has stopped playing in the background? Close the VKontakte application, change the date to a day earlier or later - enjoy listening again.
1. Go to the menu of your Android device. Click the Settings icon.
2. Find the “System” - “Date and Time” section. Turn off automatic date detection and set a new one.
Do not be alarmed if, after the translation, other installed applications stop working correctly or the network disappears. After restoring the current date, everything will be restored.
How to listen to YouTube in the background on Android
Many YouTube users (which, by the way, can be used not only for entertainment, but also for stable income) believe that playing in the background can only be used in the paid version, called Premium.
This is an official option to enable background playback and provides the following benefits:
- Firstly, when watching videos, advertising videos stop appearing, which prevent you from enjoying your favorite videos.
- Secondly, permission is given to save the video.
- Thirdly, the function of listening to music tracks becomes available.
- The application takes on a form that is more convenient to use.
- And much more.
Today, Premium is available to users in most countries around the world, so subscribing should not pose any problems.
The subscription cost is only $4 per month and is justified in this case, since it covers all the provided functionality. You can try it without any investment at all; the service provides the first 30 days completely free of charge.
However, there are several proven ways to do this for free.
Using these methods, it is possible to turn on your favorite music, close the application and use another without being distracted by the video. Let's look at what needs to be done to avoid overpaying.
Use a headset
This method is especially relevant for iPhone owners, since when purchasing a device, a headset with an answer/end call button is included.
1. Connect headphones.
2. Open the VK mobile application and start playing the song.
3. Pause it, then switch the smartphone to the background (short press the “Power off” button).
4. Press the answer button. It is located in the middle of the wire.
This technique can work on phones running Android, provided that you are using a native headset.
Disable screen lock
Feature of the VK limit - listening is limited only in the background
.
The solution is simple - disable automatic screen locking in settings
.
1. Open settings. Go to the "Device" section.
2. Find the item “Display” - “Sleep mode”. Set it to the maximum possible value.
Advice - do not put your phone in your pocket without the screen being locked. You will definitely dial a random number
(possibly abroad and you will be left without money in your account) or launch a couple more installed applications.
Using the picture-in-picture function
The Android operating system of the eighth generation and older includes the “Picture in Picture” function. It is designed to open a small screen on top of all applications.
You can also move it to any place in the working area of the screen, change its size, stop video playback and much more.
To use this functionality, you need to activate it in your mobile phone settings. This is done as follows:
- First, go to the phone settings.
- The next step is to find the settings sub-item called “Applications and notifications”.
- Go to the Accessibility section and click on “Picture in Picture”.
Now we can turn on our favorite video, minimize it using the home button, which we talked about above. In this case, a small window will appear in the lower right corner of the screen in which the video will be broadcast.
Use the mobile version of the site
The music limit is not tied to your account specifically, but to the application id in the system. To bypass the restriction, it is enough to use not the official program, but the mobile version of the site.
1. Launch any browser installed on your phone (Chrome, Safari). Go to m.vk.com.
2. Log in using your account. Listen to music without subscription or any restrictions.
On some versions of Android, when the smartphone goes into Sleep mode, the playback of songs may stop.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Applications
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
All applications that allow you to listen to music from VK offline have both pros and cons. First, the good stuff.
Such programs allow you to download any track, including demos, all kinds of remixes that are not available in official stores, such as Apple Music.
You can also create playlists and folders in applications.
Thanks to the saving function, such special programs allow you to listen to your favorite songs even where there is no connection.
While listing the advantages, we must not forget about the convenient, simple interface.
Now about the cons.
If music is uploaded to the application, then you can listen to it only in this program.
Tracks downloaded to your phone usually take up a lot of space, which creates some inconvenience.
Some programs do not display the weight of downloaded files.
There are applications that are formally considered free, but they have built-in purchases. In this case, intrusive advertising will pester the user until he buys a subscription.
Music without restrictions in alternative clients
In addition to the official application, there are a number of programs created by third-party developers. They, like older versions of VKontakte, cache music, allowing you to listen to it without the Internet for an unlimited amount of time.
The most popular:
- VK Coffee;
- VMP (page on 4pda.ru).
Downloading and installing them from the official AppStore and Google Play stores will not work, only from third-party resources. Before installing on Android, go to Settings and enable installation of applications from unknown sources.
Remember - installing applications and subsequently entering data from your accounts may lead to its loss or freezing
.
More restrictions are coming
Every year the requirements for the use of content on networks become more and more stringent. The authorities of many countries around the world have come to grips with copyright protection. Here, willy-nilly, all virtual services associated with the transfer and storage of software downloaded for free (read: illegally) are forced to restrict access to it.
In principle, this practice is widespread in all civilized countries. In Europe and the USA, “copyright” legislation is especially strictly observed, and royalty percentages regularly “drip” to the performer. Special services monitor hacker leaks. In our country, such persecution of users is still an extremely rare phenomenon.
A striking example of the beginning of this phenomenon in domestic social networks is the blocking of access to audio libraries, which should take place in the near future on the popular social project VKontakte. As a result, hundreds of thousands of users will not be able to find lists of selected compositions in their “favorites”. Access to them from different devices, including iPhones, will be blocked due to copyright infringement. Now songs can only be listened to online, and all collections accumulated during the period of using the service may be lost.
And the VKontakte administration warned all interested developers ahead of time about impending problems with access. The public API that allows you to access the service’s audio recording databases will be closed. The VK administration will control the list of trusted third-party developers and add (remove) them at its discretion.
How to deal with this? Here are several options for getting out of this situation. Although they are unlikely to be able to provide the same functionality as before.
Install VK version 4.8.3 and lower
In version 4.8.4, a restriction on listening to songs has appeared. Many users install older versions of the application or new ones that contain a special patch that allows them to remove the limitation.
1. Enable installation of applications from unknown sources (the procedure is described above).
2. Uninstall the official VKontakte client.
3. Install an older version, such as this one.
Don’t be surprised if, after installation, some of the functionality of the social network is missing, that’s why it’s an “old version”.
Using SoundPort
First of all, we present the most popular “life hack” in networks recently. To do this, you need to go to the App Store and download the adapted application from it - SoundPort. The good news is that it is compatible not only with iPhones, but also with iPads, which means the same procedure can be carried out on different devices. Before installation, I would like to note an important point - this transfer application must have access to your account in VK and Apple Music. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you download it only from a trusted source! This will protect you from downloading potentially malicious software, with subsequent account hacking.
In addition, this method is advisable to use only if you have a subscription to the Apple Music branded service. Otherwise, such manipulations will be absolutely useless.
After authorization in the installed application, the user can begin transferring the list of records from VK. It’s a little inconvenient that you have to select each of them separately, even if they were initially grouped into different folders. The work is monotonous and slow.
After selecting songs, you need to tap to confirm the offer to add to the library. In this case, the application will request access to your “account” in Apple Music. Having received permission, SoundPort transfers all your tracks from VK to the Apple library.
Please note that the application specified in this section does not transfer the compositions themselves, but playlists selected by the user. After the transfer, the search and playback of the composition is carried out from the Apple Music database - with high-quality, legalized content. If the track you are looking for is not in this database, the application will display a list of alternative options for accessing it.
True, it is unknown how albums transferred in this way will be listened to in the future. It is possible that later certain restrictions will be introduced with public music APIs for free listening. And after several tracks, the rest will be asked to pay a certain subscription fee to play them.
There is undoubtedly some rationality in this. Since, according to the results of the last reporting financial period, the main profit of Apple was not the phenomenal income from the sale of iPhones, but payments for their maintenance and for various types of services that ensure their full operation. In light of such events, it is quite logical to expect similar transformations that are annoying for users.
Remember that when you activate the application, the selected tracks are gradually added to the “iCloud Library” section of Apple Music. And as long as the user has a subscription to it (paid, by the way), he has the opportunity to listen to media files without restrictions. Once your subscription is terminated, all songs will no longer be available for listening.
This application is shareware, i.e. There is no fee required to download it. However, you will only be able to take advantage of a few free (“trial”) transfers – up to three songs at a time. It is clear that this is very inconvenient. To remove this restriction, it is proposed to contribute (as an in-app purchase) about 75 rubles.
However, when transferring music, some users resort to a not entirely honest technique - after downloading the maximum permissible number of songs, they delete the application. And then they download it again, and the counter that limits the number of free downloads is reset to zero, and you can continue working on transferring massive amounts of content without harming your wallet.
