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Android Central
Android Central
Technology
Sanuj Bhatia

Ah, bummer: Google is putting an end to the free YouTube background playback loophole

The YouTube app listing on the Google Play Store, running on a Google Pixel 8 Pro.

What you need to know

  • Google has closed a loophole that let Android users play YouTube videos in the background without a Premium plan.
  • The workaround relied on mobile browsers like Samsung Internet or Brave to enable background playback for free.
  • Google says background playback is meant to stay exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers on mobile devices.
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