YouTube now blocking background playback on mobile browsers

Feb 03, 2026 07:53 PM - 3 months ago 97430

Tom Warren

is a elder editor and writer of Notepad, who has been covering each things Microsoft, PC, and tech for complete 20 years.

YouTube has started to artifact third-party mobile browsers from utilizing a inheritance playback loophole. Background playback is expected to beryllium constricted to YouTube Premium subscribers done the charismatic iOS aliases Android app, but galore group person been utilizing browsers for illustration Brave, Vivaldi, and Edge to get inheritance playback without a subscription. Not anymore.

“Background playback is simply a characteristic intended to beryllium exclusive for YouTube Premium members,” says an unnamed Google spokesperson successful a connection to Android Authority. “While immoderate non-Premium users whitethorn person antecedently been capable to entree this done mobile web browsers successful definite scenarios, we person updated the acquisition to guarantee consistency crossed each our platforms.”

Samsung Internet users started complaining astir the artifact past week, followed by those utilizing Brave, Vivaldi, and Microsoft Edge. Some Firefox users have managed to move the browser’s user-agent drawstring to Android VR to support the inheritance playback loophole alive.

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