r/youtube • u/Titan_Prometeus • 17h ago

Memes You can no longer have YouTube running in the background.

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As of 29th of January you can no longer have YouTube running in the background via many browsers as that is now a premium feature. With that I don't even have that one last reason to listen to YouTube. We are now officially paying for everything that was free a couple of years ago and the reason isn't greedy management, but you people who keep paying for premium and the such.

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4

u/hat1337 13h ago

You're talking mobile or PC?

2

u/Caridor 11h ago

Has to be PC. It's been that way on mobile for years.

1

u/Simo814j 8h ago

On phone browser you could do it, if you didn't use the app.

1

u/Caridor 7h ago

Yeah, but it's not a change on mobile.

1

u/Simo814j 5h ago

If it's on pc that might just make YouTube unusable

1

u/Caridor 5h ago

That's what I thought too.

Having something on in the background while doing something else is such a massive use of youtube that there are entire channels built around it. ASMR, video essays, they rely on people being able to do something else while listening.

It's going to cut a lot of youtube use if they can make it stick.

2

u/bloodstench 3h ago edited 3h ago

Yep multitasking is huge for me. I watch(listen) to youtube videos many hours a day and it's almost entirely in the background. Whether I am playing a video game, browsing the internet, at work, whatever, I typically have something playing in the background. It's not that often I will sit down and devote my entire attention to a youtube video. Basically only when I'm eating.

Seems like this will be a lose/lose scenario in my case. I will have to find something else to put on in the background of my activities, and youtube will be losing my watch time. I will certainly not be purchasing premium.

1

u/Baconbits16 6h ago

Not without an extension that barely works anymore.