No More Free Background Play: Google Patches one of YouTube’s Biggest Mobile Loophole

Google is tightening its grip on one of YouTube Premium’s most coveted feature, officially patching a long-standing loophole that allowed Android users to enjoy background playback through third-party browsers without a subscription.

By implementing new technical restrictions, the search giant tries to neutralize workarounds in popular browsers like Brave and Vivaldi that previously bypassed the paywall by tricking the site into playing audio while the screen was off or the app minimized.

This latest crackdown draws a firm line in the sand: if you want to keep the music playing while you multitask on mobile, Google expects you to pay for the privilege. After trying to hinder content-blockers for years and blocking vital extensions in Chrome for Android, the company seems to have found another target for its thumbscrew tactics.

Google made several features exclusive to paying YouTube Premium subscribers when it launched the plan. Premium subscribers get several benefits, including an ad-free experience on the site. Another benefit is background playback on Android.

Google tries to block background play workarounds

Give it a try. Open YouTube in Chrome for Android, play any video, and switch to another app or turn off the screen. The effect? Video playback stops. Not great, considering that many devices turn off the display automatically after a short period of inactivity. Listening to a video while napping? Forget it.

That is where third-party browsers and other tools came into play. Fire up Brave, Vivaldi or several other browsers, and you will notice that video playback continued, even while the YouTube tab was in the background.

This loophole is reportedly being closed. I tested several browsers and found some to be working — Brave — and others not at the time — Vivaldi — but that does not mean that you will experience the same.

Google, clearly, is after Premium subscribers only. If your favorite way of listening to YouTube videos no longer works, you might buy Premium after all to regain the function. Some users might try and find other workarounds, like downloading videos first to play them locally. This works, but it requires more steps before a video can be played.

Google seems to have confirmed the change to various news outlets, including Android Authority. This is the statement from a Google spokesperson according to the site:

Background playback is a feature intended to be exclusive for YouTube Premium members. While some non-Premium users may have previously been able to access this through mobile web browsers in certain scenarios, we have updated the experience to ensure consistency across all our platforms.

There you go. If you can’t play YouTube videos in the background anymore on Android, it is Google that you need to blame. There is a good chance that this is the start of yet another cat-and-mouse game. Browsers and tools might find ways around this, which are then closed or torpedoed by Google again.