diff --git a/frontend/src/components/WatchPage.tsx b/frontend/src/components/WatchPage.tsx
index 0aae21f3..321a17d3 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/WatchPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/WatchPage.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { Download, File as FileIcon, Link2, Lock, PlayCircle } from "lucide-react";
 import { Button } from "./ui/Button";
 import { formatBytes } from "../lib/format";
+import {
+  followAudio,
+  handOverOnHide,
+  readBackgroundMode,
+  startPlayback,
+} from "../lib/watchBackgroundAudio";
 
 // Standalone, login-free video page for a shared /watch/<token> link. Rendered OUTSIDE the app
 // tree (no auth, no providers) — like the /privacy and /terms pages. Uses plain fetch and a tiny
@@ -130,6 +136,24 @@ export default function WatchPage() {
   };
   useMediaSession(mediaRef, meta, status === "ready");
 
+  // PROTOTYPE (dev only): background sound for a video on iPad, `?bg=a`, `?bg=b` or `?bg=c` — see
+  // lib/watchBackgroundAudio. Without the param the page behaves exactly as before.
+  const [bgMode] = useState(() => readBackgroundMode(window.location.search));
+  const audioMode = bgMode === "a" || bgMode === "b" ? bgMode : null;
+  const [videoEl, setVideoEl] = useState<HTMLVideoElement | null>(null);
+  const [audioEl, setAudioEl] = useState<HTMLAudioElement | null>(null);
+  const [started, setStarted] = useState(false);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!audioMode || !videoEl || !audioEl) return;
+    return audioMode === "a" ? followAudio(videoEl, audioEl) : handOverOnHide(videoEl, audioEl);
+  }, [audioMode, videoEl, audioEl]);
+  // Mode "c": mount the player's wrapper first and the <video> in the NEXT commit, so the video enters
+  // the DOM as a node of its own — the only way Brave's background play notices it.
+  const [videoSlot, setVideoSlot] = useState(bgMode !== "c");
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (status === "ready" && !videoSlot) setVideoSlot(true);
+  }, [status, videoSlot]);
+
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!token) {
       setStatus("gone");
@@ -264,15 +288,49 @@ export default function WatchPage() {
             ) : (
               /* Shrink-wrap the player to the video so a vertical/short clip renders as a narrow
                  player instead of a wide box with black bars; a landscape clip fills the width. */
-              <div className="rounded-xl overflow-hidden bg-black border border-border w-fit max-w-full mx-auto">
-                <video
-                  ref={setMedia}
-                  controls
-                  playsInline
-                  src={meta.file_url}
-                  poster={meta.poster_url || undefined}
-                  className="max-h-[80vh] max-w-full mx-auto block"
-                />
+              <div className="relative rounded-xl overflow-hidden bg-black border border-border w-fit max-w-full mx-auto">
+                {videoSlot && (
+                  <video
+                    ref={(el) => {
+                      setVideoEl(el);
+                      // Mode "a": the audio is the clock, so the lock-screen controls drive it instead.
+                      if (bgMode !== "a") setMedia(el);
+                    }}
+                    controls={!audioMode || started}
+                    playsInline
+                    muted={bgMode === "a"}
+                    src={meta.file_url}
+                    poster={meta.poster_url || undefined}
+                    className="max-h-[80vh] max-w-full mx-auto block"
+                  />
+                )}
+                {audioMode && (
+                  <audio
+                    ref={(el) => {
+                      setAudioEl(el);
+                      if (bgMode === "a") setMedia(el);
+                    }}
+                    src={meta.file_url}
+                    preload="auto"
+                    className="hidden"
+                  />
+                )}
+                {audioMode && !started && videoEl && audioEl && (
+                  <button
+                    type="button"
+                    data-testid="bg-start"
+                    onClick={() => {
+                      startPlayback(audioMode, videoEl, audioEl);
+                      setStarted(true);
+                    }}
+                    className="absolute inset-0 grid place-items-center bg-black/30"
+                  >
+                    <PlayCircle className="w-20 h-20 text-white drop-shadow" />
+                    <span className="absolute top-2 left-2 rounded bg-black/60 px-2 py-0.5 text-xs text-white">
+                      bg: {audioMode.toUpperCase()}
+                    </span>
+                  </button>
+                )}
               </div>
             )}
             <div className="mt-3 flex items-start gap-3">
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/watchBackgroundAudio.ts b/frontend/src/lib/watchBackgroundAudio.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5aab0f49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/watchBackgroundAudio.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+// Background sound for a shared VIDEO on iPad — PROTOTYPE, dev only (improvement/watch-background-audio).
+//
+// iPadOS WebKit (every iPad browser, Brave included) stops a <video> the moment the browser leaves the
+// foreground, but lets an <audio> keep playing. Measured on iPad Brave 2026-09-14 with Brave's own
+// "Enable Background Audio" on: the mp3 share kept playing in another app, the h264 share stopped at once.
+// A page cannot simply START the sound when it is backgrounded (iOS allows starting playback only from a
+// tap), so two ways to have an <audio> already in hand are tried side by side:
+//
+//   "a" — the SOUND always comes from a hidden <audio> on the same file and the <video> runs muted,
+//         following it. Backgrounded, only the picture stops; back in front, the picture catches up.
+//   "b" — the <video> plays with its own sound; an <audio> is unlocked by the start tap and takes over
+//         from the same second when the page is backgrounded, handing back when it returns.
+//
+// Both need the start tap to call play() synchronously (startPlayback), so iOS counts it as the user's.
+//
+//   "c" — no audio trick at all: the <video> is inserted as a node of its own into an already-mounted
+//         wrapper. Brave iOS's background play (brave-core ios/browser/web/media/resources/
+//         media_backgrounding.ts) restarts a <video> the OS paused, but it only hooks videos present at
+//         document start or added as a MutationObserver addedNode that IS a video — the page used to
+//         insert the video inside a new wrapper in one go, so Brave never saw it. Brave-only by nature.
+
+export type AudioMode = "a" | "b";
+export type BackgroundMode = AudioMode | "c";
+
+export function readBackgroundMode(search: string): BackgroundMode | null {
+  const v = new URLSearchParams(search).get("bg");
+  return v === "a" || v === "b" || v === "c" ? v : null;
+}
+
+/** The start tap. Must run inside the click handler: iOS allows audible playback only from a gesture. */
+export function startPlayback(mode: AudioMode, video: HTMLVideoElement, audio: HTMLAudioElement) {
+  audio.currentTime = video.currentTime;
+  if (mode === "a") {
+    video.muted = true;
+    void audio.play();
+    void video.play();
+    return;
+  }
+  // "b": unlock the audio element with a silent play/pause inside the gesture, then play the video.
+  audio.muted = true;
+  void audio.play().then(() => {
+    audio.pause();
+    audio.muted = false;
+  });
+  void video.play();
+}
+
+// The OS pauses the video when the page goes to the background, and the pause event can arrive before
+// visibilitychange. Decide what a pause meant only once that has had a moment to land.
+const SETTLE_MS = 250;
+const DRIFT_S = 0.3;
+
+/** Mode "a": the audio is the clock; the muted video follows it. Returns a cleanup. */
+export function followAudio(video: HTMLVideoElement, audio: HTMLAudioElement): () => void {
+  let timer: number | undefined;
+  const onVideoPlay = () => {
+    if (audio.paused) void audio.play();
+  };
+  const onVideoPause = () => {
+    window.clearTimeout(timer);
+    timer = window.setTimeout(() => {
+      // A pause while the page is in front is the user's; one while hidden is the OS stopping the picture.
+      if (!document.hidden && video.paused) audio.pause();
+    }, SETTLE_MS);
+  };
+  // Our own catch-up seeks on the video must NOT be copied back onto the audio: that loop re-seeked the
+  // sound on every drift correction (an audible skip), and in WebKit it sent both back seconds on return.
+  // Only a seek the user makes on the video's controls moves the sound.
+  let ownSeek = false;
+  const syncVideo = () => {
+    ownSeek = true;
+    video.currentTime = audio.currentTime;
+  };
+  const onVideoSeeking = () => {
+    if (!ownSeek) audio.currentTime = video.currentTime;
+  };
+  const onVideoSeeked = () => {
+    ownSeek = false;
+  };
+  const onVideoVolume = () => {
+    // The controls' mute button acts on the sound; the picture itself always stays muted.
+    if (!video.muted) {
+      audio.muted = !audio.muted;
+      video.muted = true;
+    }
+  };
+  const onAudioEnded = () => video.pause();
+  const onVisible = () => {
+    if (document.hidden) return;
+    syncVideo();
+    if (!audio.paused) void video.play();
+  };
+  const drift = window.setInterval(() => {
+    if (!document.hidden && !audio.paused && !video.seeking) {
+      if (Math.abs(video.currentTime - audio.currentTime) > DRIFT_S) syncVideo();
+    }
+  }, 1000);
+
+  video.addEventListener("play", onVideoPlay);
+  video.addEventListener("pause", onVideoPause);
+  video.addEventListener("seeking", onVideoSeeking);
+  video.addEventListener("seeked", onVideoSeeked);
+  video.addEventListener("volumechange", onVideoVolume);
+  audio.addEventListener("ended", onAudioEnded);
+  document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", onVisible);
+  return () => {
+    window.clearTimeout(timer);
+    window.clearInterval(drift);
+    video.removeEventListener("play", onVideoPlay);
+    video.removeEventListener("pause", onVideoPause);
+    video.removeEventListener("seeking", onVideoSeeking);
+    video.removeEventListener("seeked", onVideoSeeked);
+    video.removeEventListener("volumechange", onVideoVolume);
+    audio.removeEventListener("ended", onAudioEnded);
+    document.removeEventListener("visibilitychange", onVisible);
+  };
+}
+
+/** Mode "b": the video plays with sound; the audio takes over while the page is hidden. Returns a cleanup. */
+export function handOverOnHide(video: HTMLVideoElement, audio: HTMLAudioElement): () => void {
+  // Whether the USER has the video playing. The OS's own pause on backgrounding must not clear it, so
+  // a pause only counts once it has settled with the page still in front.
+  let playing = !video.paused;
+  let timer: number | undefined;
+  const onVideoPlay = () => {
+    playing = true;
+  };
+  const onVideoPause = () => {
+    window.clearTimeout(timer);
+    timer = window.setTimeout(() => {
+      if (!document.hidden && video.paused) playing = false;
+    }, SETTLE_MS);
+  };
+  const onVisibility = () => {
+    if (document.hidden) {
+      if (!playing) return;
+      audio.currentTime = video.currentTime; // where the picture stopped, even if the OS paused it first
+      void audio.play();
+      return;
+    }
+    if (!audio.paused) {
+      video.currentTime = audio.currentTime;
+      audio.pause();
+      void video.play();
+    }
+  };
+  video.addEventListener("play", onVideoPlay);
+  video.addEventListener("pause", onVideoPause);
+  document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", onVisibility);
+  return () => {
+    window.clearTimeout(timer);
+    video.removeEventListener("play", onVideoPlay);
+    video.removeEventListener("pause", onVideoPause);
+    document.removeEventListener("visibilitychange", onVisibility);
+  };
+}