YouTube Paywalled Yet Another Popular Feature (And You Should Be Worried)

Long were the days when YouTube could be enjoyed without long unskippable ads and a Premium subscription. If you haven't upgraded already, you might want to consider subscribing to YouTube Premium after recent developments. Google recently started blocking a workaround for playing YouTube videos in the background without a Premium subscription. YouTube users relied on third-party browsers like Microsoft Edge and Samsung Internet, instead of the YouTube app, to access videos and play them in the background. However, it seems like Google has patched the issue.

In a statement to GSMArena, a YouTube spokesperson said, "Background playback is a feature intended to be exclusive for YouTube Premium members. While some non-Premium users may have previously been able to access this through mobile web browsers in certain scenarios, we have updated the experience to ensure consistency across all our platforms." As of now, it seems like shelling out a few bucks for the Premium plan is the only way to enjoy your favorite tracks or podcasts in the background with your phone's screen turned off.

YouTube is not the only platform where ads are getting out of control as a result of companies pushing to get more users to upgrade to a paid tier. Instagram, for example, is rolling out ads that are impossible to skip in both Stories and the feed. Sometimes, users see as many as three ads in a row on Instagram, which can be annoying. The solution, of course, comes in the form of a paid subscription to remove ads. Similarly, YouTube continues to make the free tier of the platform worse by including more ads that can be longer and unskippable. The streaming platform also continues to crack down on ad-blockers, so you can't watch videos if you have one installed on your device.

There are some rumors indicating that YouTube may restrict the playback speed controls to YouTube Premium, meaning that users won't be able to slow down or speed up a video without paying. With subscriptions becoming the way to go for many platforms, users are struggling to keep up with them all. Besides the price increase, companies have been making it more difficult for users to share accounts, leading to more users resorting to piracy. At the end of the day, it all depends on what services make the most sense for you, and which platforms you might need to abandon.