Google just made YouTube worse on mobile, but it was bound to happen

If you’ve been secretly using your non-Chrome web browser to listen to YouTube videos with your Android screen off, then I have some bad news for you: Google has reportedly caulked this mobile loophole with a hearty dose of sealant.

As per a report by PiunikaWeb (via 9to5Google), the ability to pull up the YouTube website within a third-party Android browser like Edge, Firefox, and Samsung Internet to continue playback with the screen off is no longer working. I tested this out on my own Pixel 10 running the Edge browser, and, indeed, the YouTube audio feed cuts out a moment or two after I click the handset’s sleep/wake key.

This behavior isn’t entirely new — Google Chrome for Android hasn’t allowed for screen-off background play for some time now, and the same goes for all the mainstream browsers available for iPhone. As it stands now, a paid YouTube Premium subscription is required to unlock this capability on mobile without running into significant friction.

This was bound to happen

Google would rather have you sign up for YouTube Premium

For the longest time now, Google has been pushing to make its paid YouTube Premium subscription the one and only way to legitimately use the service without advertisements and with access to background playback on mobile. We’ve seen the company play an aggressive game of whack-a-mole with ad-blocking browser extensions on desktop, and the native YouTube app across iOS, iPadOS, and Android has never supported free screen-off playback to begin with.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise to see Google plug what has become an ‘if you know, you know’ screen-off playback loophole within the Android world. Of course, even without this workaround, other methods are still available for listening to videos with a screen off while forgoing YouTube Premium. There’s always YouTube ReVanced, NewPipe, and other non-Google-sanctioned software solutions, though these software options aren’t available over on the Apple side of the aisle.

While I can understand Google’s desire to lock desirable features behind a recurring paywall, the lack of any sort of background play support within YouTube’s free mobile app — including with the screen on while using another app — remains a particular pain point for me. I’ve always been able to minimize a YouTube window or tab on my PC, and not being able to do so on Android or iPadOS without whipping out a credit card is frustrating. For the time being, at least I can continue to emulate parts of the YouTube Premium experience on PC via some clever free web browser extensions.