Microsoft Edge on Android now plays YouTube videos in the background, bypassing previous restrictions.

YouTube Tightens Control Over Workarounds, but Microsoft Edge Makes a Comeback

In an effort to increase the number of paid subscribers, YouTube is actively shutting down “workaround” paths to Premium features. This year the service banned third‑party browsers from playing videos in the background so users couldn’t listen to clips while switching apps.

However, Microsoft Edge developers found a way around this restriction. While working with an experimental build of the mobile browser Edge Canary, they discovered that videos continue to play even after switching to other tabs or exiting the app to the phone’s home screen. This discovery was showcased on social media by an application researcher.

In addition, Edge Canary introduces several convenient new features:

- Sound indicators for each tab allow you to quickly identify where audio is playing.

- In a tab’s context menu, you can enable or disable sound for a specific site.

Microsoft first introduced background playback of YouTube in Edge Canary at the end of last year. At that time users had to manually activate this feature through settings. Now it’s available automatically, which is especially relevant after the recent price increase for YouTube Premium subscriptions.