YouTube is no longer letting free users play videos in the background

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• YouTube blocks background playback on third-party mobile browsers for free users
• Background playback now exclusive to YouTube Premium, confirms Google
• Premium users report background playback issues on third-party browsers

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YouTube has begun cracking down on a long-standing workaround that allowed some users to play videos in the background without paying for a subscription, a move that is now affecting several popular mobile browsers.

For years, YouTube Premium has offered background playback as one of its key paid features, letting videos continue to play even when the screen is turned off or another app is in use. However, many free users found a way around this by using third-party browsers such as Samsung Internet, Vivaldi, Edge, and Brave. These browsers allowed audio to keep playing when the browser was minimised, effectively offering background playback without a Premium subscription.

That loophole now appears to be closing.

According to reports shared by users and highlighted by PiunikaWeb, YouTube videos stop playing the moment the browser is minimised or the screen is turned off. A report by Android Authority says this behaviour has been widely noticed in recent days, especially by users of Samsung Internet, though similar complaints have surfaced for Vivaldi and Edge as well.

Some users have also reported seeing a brief notification labelled “MediaOngoingActivity” before the playback controls disappear entirely. Common workarounds that earlier helped restore background playback, such as clearing browser cache or tweaking Picture-in-Picture settings, no longer seem to work.

Google has now confirmed that this change is intentional. In a statement to Android Authority, a Google spokesperson said background playback is meant to be exclusive to YouTube Premium users. The company added that while some non-Premium users were able to access it earlier through mobile browsers in certain situations, YouTube has now updated the experience to make it consistent across all platforms.

Interestingly, some users claim the issue is affecting Premium subscribers as well when they try to use background playback through third-party browsers. This has led to confusion, as paying users expect the feature to work regardless of which browser they use. So far, Google has not publicly clarified whether this is a bug or a deliberate limitation tied to browser choice.

YouTube Premium includes several features beyond background playback. Subscribers can download videos for offline viewing, queue videos, watch content without ads, and switch to higher video bitrates, which is useful for sports and fast-moving content.

The move is likely to frustrate free users who had grown accustomed to listening to music, podcasts, or long videos in the background without paying. At the same time, it reinforces YouTube’s push to clearly separate free and paid features.

For now, users who want reliable background playback on mobile may have little choice but to use the official YouTube app with a Premium subscription.