Used this trick to play YouTube videos in the background? Google has shut it down

Free YouTube users report that audio now stops when videos are minimised or screens are locked on mobile browsers.

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 5, 2026 09:21 AM IST

YouTube says background playback is a Premium-only feature and has updated its mobile web experience to enforce this. (Image Source: Microsoft Designer/AI)

YouTube Premium offers a ton of features like background playback, but some users relied on third-party browsers like Edge, Vivaldi, Brave and Samsung Internet to play audio with the browser minimised or the screen turned off.

But now, the Google-owned platform has confirmed that it is closing the loophole that allowed free YouTube users to play videos in the background. Citing multiple users from PiunikaWeb, a report by Android Authority claims that when users minimise their browsers with a YouTube video playing, the audio gets cut.

While the majority of reports come from free YouTube users who use Samsung Internet, the issue also reportedly affects browsers like Vivaldi and Edge. Some users also report that they see a notification saying “MediaOngoingActivity” before the media controls disappear.

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“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,” a Google spokesperson told the publication.

Free YouTube users also say that common fixes like clearing browser cache and changing the Picture-in-Picture settings no longer work.

As it turns out, Google may have disabled background playback in third-party browsers for Premium subscribers as well, regardless of their subscription tier.

To give you a quick recap, YouTube Premium offers several features like the ability to queue videos, download videos for offline viewing, and the option to switch to a higher bitrate for those who watch sports or videos with a lot of motion.

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