How To Play YouTube Videos In The Background On Your Android Without Premium

One of the main benefits of a YouTube Premium subscription is being able to play videos in the background, but at $14 per month, it becomes difficult to justify the cost, especially if you're not taking advantage of other Premium benefits. If only there were a way to enjoy this feature without signing up and paying for yet another membership.

As luck would have it, Microsoft is actually testing a new capability on its Edge browser for Android that could prove troubling for YouTube's paywall. It might even get Chrome users to eventually switch over to Edge. Recently, a flag was discovered in Microsoft Edge Canary — the browser's experimental release channel — which allows users to play videos in the background when using Edge. Oh, and the best part: This feature isn't exclusive to YouTube videos. Any site with an embedded media player should be a candidate for this new Edge flag.

At this point, we're still working with the Edge Canary version of this feature. That means you can't just fire up the traditional Edge app; you'll need to download Edge Canary for your compatible Android device first.

Your first order of business in the Edge Canary app is tracking down the Video Background Play flag. For those unaware, a flag, in the context of any web browser, is an experimental feature or function that hasn't been integrated into the software proper. To find the flag we're looking for:

1. Run a search for edge://flags in the app's main search field.
2. Search for Video Background Play.
3. Select Enabled from the list of dropdown options.
4. Restart the browser.
5. On the Edge Canary homepage, tap the hamburger icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
6. Tap Settings > Site settings > Background video playback, and make sure the latter is toggled on.

Now it's time to test the feature:

1. Head over to YouTube's site.
2. Start a video.
3. Bounce over to a new tab in Edge Canary.

If you've set everything up correctly, you should still hear audio from YouTube as your video plays in the background. 

This bodes particularly well for multitasking office workers and PC gamers. While an individual responds to emails and edits documents, they could be listening to training materials or an inspiring podcast in the background, without needing to switch between tabs and windows. As for gamers, imagine being able to listen to a walkthrough of a difficult level as you're simultaneously playing the game that's causing you to tear your hair out.

As a bonus, you should also see a message when Edge Canary launches that reads, "Turn on Ad blocker to watch videos without interrupting ads." If you select Turn On, Edge Canary will prevent YouTube (and other sites) from running ads during video playback.

Right now, the background playback function and optional ad-skipping are only available to Edge Canary users. As far as what the future looks like for these flags, it's hard to say. We're willing to bet that Google has its eye on all this, though, especially in the wake of Microsoft's 2013 Windows Phone debacle.

In 2013, Microsoft released a YouTube app for its first-party mobile device, complete with background playback and ad-blocking capabilities. This was a violation of YouTube's terms of service, so Google responded by blocking Microsoft's YouTube app. Doesn't it stink when mom and dad are fighting?

The Microsoft Edge flag is a little different this time around. For one thing, Edge's building blocks are based on Google's open-source Chromium project, so the flags Google may want to stomp out aren't exclusive to Microsoft. Still, if the Big G wants to fire back, it could always alter YouTube's coding and API tools to level the playing field. Hindsight is 20/20, so here's hoping everyone gets along if Microsoft decides to implement these features across Edge's official apps and browser extensions.