Google Closes Loophole Allowing Free YouTube Users to Play Videos in Background

Google has closed a loophole that users have long exploited to play YouTube videos in the background without subscribing to a YouTube Premium plan.

Background play is a feature that Google reserves exclusively for YouTube Premium users. The feature was designed specifically as part of the premium paid subscription system.

In practice, however, this exclusivity has not been entirely maintained. Some free (non-Premium) users were still able to access background play through third-party browsers.

Reports indicate that the most popular third-party browsers used for this workaround were Samsung Internet, Brave, Vivaldi, and Microsoft Edge.

As reports from users multiplied over recent days, Google took firm action by updating the YouTube user experience.

Google confirmed that this step was necessary because background playback was always intended as an exclusive feature for YouTube Premium subscribers.

The company wants to ensure consistent experience with this feature across all platforms, so that paid features cannot be accessed through loopholes outside the official subscription scheme.

“Background playback is a feature that is intended exclusively for YouTube Premium members,” Google stated, as reported by KompasTekno citing GSM Arena.

Google did not specify how many users were affected by this change. However, with the update, access to background play for free YouTube users is now fully restricted, including through third-party browsers.