Google has closed free access to the Premium YouTube feature

Google closed the "loophole" that allowed Android users to play YouTube videos in the background without a Premium subscription. This workaround used third-party mobile browsers, but it no longer works for many users.

Android Central reports on this change.

Background playback from a mobile browser is no longer available without a Premium subscription

YouTube Premium offers several notable advantages, including ad-free viewing, video downloads for offline viewing, and background playback on smartphones. Some users have bypassed the restrictions for years by opening the mobile version of YouTube in third-party browsers such as Samsung Internet, Brave, or Vivaldi rather than in the app. They could play videos and continue listening after locking the screen.

However, this method no longer works for non-Premium accounts. Google confirmed that they updated YouTube so that background playback on mobile devices would remain an exclusive Premium subscriber feature.

Users first complained about the disappearance of the "bypass method" after reporting that background playback in the browser stopped working. Subsequently, the company explained that the change was planned and intentional.

According to users, when playing a video in a browser with a regular account and locking the smartphone, the controls on the lock screen disappear. You also cannot resume playback manually—pressing "Play" has no effect, as if playback is blocked on the YouTube side.

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