YouTube blocks third-party browser workaround for background playback

YouTube appears to be blocking a popular workaround that let Android users play only the audio from videos with their screens off, according to reporting by 9to5Google and other outlets. Android users had been using third‑party browsers to keep YouTube audio running in the background.

Users of Samsung Internet, Brave, Vivaldi and Edge have reported that they can no longer play YouTube sound with the display off, 9to5Google says. Pixel‑focused site Piunikaweb wrote that the "sudden, simultaneous failure across multiple browsers strongly suggests a targeted change by YouTube," framing the outages as more than isolated bugs.

9to5Google tested the behavior on Samsung Internet and found that "video playback ends within a couple of seconds of the display going dark." YouTube already limits background playback on mobile to Premium subscribers, which the reporting says makes the company’s targeting of the workaround understandable to some users.

Mashable says that, for now at least, people who relied on the third‑party browser workaround are effectively in the same position as users on Chrome or Safari: they must either subscribe to Premium or give up background audio.

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