Google Tightens Grip as Free YouTube Workarounds Cease to Work

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

Background play is a feature locked exclusively for YouTube Premium subscribers, designed as part of Google’s paid subscription package. However, in practice, this exclusivity has not been entirely enforced. Some free, non-Premium users have been able to access background play through third-party browsers.

Reports indicate that the most popular third-party browsers used for this purpose are Samsung Internet, alongside several other third-party sites including Brave, Vivaldi, and Microsoft Edge.

As reports from users mounted over recent days, Google took decisive action by updating the YouTube user experience. The company emphasised that background playback was designed from the outset as an exclusive feature for YouTube Premium subscribers.

Google wishes to ensure that the user experience with this feature remains consistent across all platforms, so that paid features can no longer be accessed through loopholes outside the official subscription scheme.

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

The company did not specify how many users are affected by this change. However, with the update in place, access to background play for free YouTube users is now entirely restricted, including through third-party browsers.