In August 2021, YouTube started a pilot test for a new Premium Lite subscription in a few European markets. While the company eventually decided to phase it out for the current YouTube Premium experience, Google eventually released a new Premium Lite version of its YouTube subscription in March 2025. Focused on providing ad-free viewing for most videos, it lacked two of the main features available on Premium: background play and the ability to download videos to play offline.
Almost a year after the debut of YouTube Premium Lite in the U.S., the company has finally announced that background play and offline videos would no longer be limited to YouTube Premium, opening up access to Premium Lite subscribers. While the rollout started this week, YouTube says it might take a few weeks for every account to receive the update.
YouTube says the features that remain exclusive to the most expensive plan are the ability to watch and listen to music and music videos ad-free, jumping ahead, queuing, and continue watching. That said, YouTube just made the Premium Lite plan a lot more interesting, especially after the service cracked down on a loophole that allowed some users to listen to videos in the background without being a Premium subscriber.
Downloads and background play
While YouTube says downloads and background play are available to Premium Lite users for “most videos,” they continue to be widely available to all Premium subscribers. According to YouTube, the main difference for Premium Lite subscribers is that those benefit are applicable to “most non-music content, excluding Shorts.” Additionally, ads may continue to appear when searching or browsing for content, which doesn’t happen on the more expensive plan.
This could convert a number of free users who were previously on the fence, as one of the best perks of being a Premium subscriber is the ability to start watching a video on your phone and then moving to another app without interrupting its playback. Besides that, it’s also very convenient to be able to download content and watch it later when you don’t have a reliable internet connection, like on a flight or during a trip to a remote location.
Suddenly, the $7.99/month subscription fee is much more compelling. The standard YouTube Premium plan costs $13.99/month, while a Family plan for up to five members is available for $22.99/month. The company also offers a student plan, which requires annual verification.
YouTube rights a few wrongs
This YouTube Premium Lite upgrade is especially timely, as YouTube recently made a few controversial changes that riled up the internet. For one, YouTube Music recently paywalled a fan-favorite feature: lyrics. According to 9to5Google, free users can only see lyrics to five songs per month. After that, only a few lines of lyrics will appear before users are asked to subscribe to YouTube Premium. While users can instead find a video containing the lyrics on YouTube, that will also come with more ads.
Besides that, YouTube also fixed a loophole that allowed free users to play YouTube videos in the background without a paid subscription. Previously, users could take advantage of Microsoft Edge or Samsung Internet to access YouTube’s web page and then start doing something else on their Android device without the video stopping. However, Google recently closed this loophole.
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.” That said, while YouTube has continued to chip away at free features, at least the cheaper paid plan is gaining additional perks.
