YouTube slams the door on free browser background play

For years now, users unwilling to pay for a YouTube Premium subscription have found ways to make their experience on the platform akin to those paying. Third-party apps, ad-blockers, loopholes, and more, are all tools that users have used, all while Google tightens its grip over the very same tools.

The platform's war on ad blockers took a new turn late in January, when it started serving "This content isn't available" errors. Now, the streaming giant has confirmed that it is blocking a widely-used background play loophole as well.

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Temporary workarounds exist

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By  Karandeep Singh Oberoi

Up until recently, users have been able to bypass free YouTube's background play restriction by using YouTube via a browser. This used to work with Chrome alternatives like Samsung Internet or Brave, where users would play a video and minimize the browser or turn their phone's screen off.

Recent reports though, via PiunikaWeb, suggested that YouTube was blocking background playback on said browsers.

End of the mobile browser workaround

Background playback not working, however, isn't a bug. It's exactly what Google wants. At least when it comes to YouTube, Google has officially patched out the ability for non-Premium users to access background playback via mobile browsers.

In a statement given to the folks over at Android Authority, Google confirmed that this was a deliberate move.

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, that's the latest in Google's war on non-Premium users taking advantage of Premium features. The scope of the latest crackdown isn't immediately clear at the moment, but considering that the tech giant officially addressed and acknowledged the situation, we believe that the loophole will soon stop functioning for all users.