Rita El Khoury / Android Authority A couple of days ago, Microsoft Edge’s latest Canary version added a new and very intriguing feature: video background playback. While the feature seemed cool and innocuous at first glance, we discovered that it could be used to play YouTube videos in the background without paying for a Premium subscription. Better yet, Microsoft Edge also has a built-in ad-blocker that can remove ads while watching YouTube. A plus B equal the two most useful perks from a YouTube Premium subscription can now be had for free with Edge. This all sounds too good to be true, so I immediately put it to the test to see how well it works. It actually does. I played several videos without encountering a single ad, and switched back and forth between tabs and apps, without breaking a sweat; the video kept going in the background. I even turned my screen off, and the video continued playing. Background audio playback on Edge Canary Microsoft Edge ad blocking YouTube video playing in the background from Edge Canary But even if I can have all of the above for free, I’ll still keep my YouTube subscription. Here’s why. Do you play YouTube in the background using browser hacks like Brave, Samsung Internet, and Edge? 59 votes Yes, I have for a while now. 32 % I just learned about this and I'll start using it. 7 % No, I have another hack/workaround for YouTube. 17 % No, I have a Premium subcription. 31 % No, I have no need for this feature. 14 % I watch YouTube on more than just one phone Rita El Khoury / Android Authority Whenever I come across an ad-free, background playback-enabled, and sometimes even download-capable YouTube hack for free, my immediate question is: Does it work across all platforms? Because if not, then it’s useless to me. I watch YouTube in the browser on my computer when I’m working, on my phone(s) when I’m on the go, and on my Google TV Streamer when I’m at home. Because of my work here on Android Authority, I also switch between a dozen phones and tablets during any given week. So any Premium hack, be it using the Brave browser, an ad-blocker, ReVanced, or whatever other underground alternative is hot these days, has to work across all of my platforms and all of my devices. If I’m spending precious time setting it up on everything I use and troubleshooting it, it’s not worth it for me. I’m probably an extreme case, but I’m also part of a YouTube family plan, so I’d also have to get my husband to switch along with me, and stay on top of any workaround. I’d also be constantly blamed if something stops working. No, my friend, no; it’s not worth the effort. I’d rather keep paying for Premium. Two perks do not equal all the perks Rita El Khoury / Android Authority While the current Microsoft Edge workaround brings two of YouTube Premium’s best features — ad-blocking and background playback — it can’t emulate the rest of my subscription’s perks. I don’t often download a video to watch offline, but I rely on smart offline downloads for those times when I’m in a bad network area and just want some entertainment without having planned it beforehand. I use Continue Watching all the time to resume a video on my TV after I start it on my phone, or the other way around. I can’t live without queues on mobile, especially when I’m researching a specific topic; I just find several videos, queue them up, and start playing. Without Premium, this is only possible on the web. There are other little-known YouTube Premium perks like watching together on a Google Meet call or using Premium controls, but the most significant benefit, if you ask me, is paying the creators I love. There was a brief period of time when I was involved with Android Authority’s YouTube channel, and those months really taught me how exhausting, ungrateful, and demanding it is to make a single YouTube video. And any creator will tell you that people who watch YouTube ads barely pay the bills; they get much more out of Premium subscribers who watch their videos. So if, by paying a few bucks a month, I can help pay all the incredible creators that I’m watching, then it’s a win for me, not a loss. Who knows when YouTube will block or punish this Reddit YouTube’s fight against ad blockers is an ongoing saga. Every few months, if not weeks, we hear of a new measure that YouTube is taking to force people to drop their ad-blocking extensions or apps. A three-strike policy, interminable hour-long ads, unskippable ads, playing ads despite ad blockers — YouTube has tried it all. And to me, looking from the outside in, it feels like people who have decided to adopt the workaround life keep playing whack-a-mole with YouTube’s latest aggression method. Even background playback has not been immune to YouTube’s draconian influence. Xiaomi had to disable video playback with the screen off from its Video toolbox in early 2024, and while the company didn’t point fingers, everyone knows why that was vetoed. Nothing has happened to browsers that offer a similar feature, like Microsoft Edge Canary, Samsung Internet, and Brave, but who knows how long they’ll be able to escape YouTube’s ire. I’m not a betting woman, but I’m pretty sure that if Google came knocking, all of these companies would disable that option or restrict it on YouTube. And that’s the final coffin for any fleeting impulse I’ve had to cancel Premium and adopt the workaround lifestyle. It wouldn’t pay my favorite creators, it would be more time-consuming to set up and maintain across all my devices, it would annoy my husband, it wouldn’t offer all the perks I’m used to, and it might be blocked or limited by Google on a whim. It is just not worth it; I’d rather keep paying for YouTube Premium. Follow