YouTube's Premium Lite tier gets background play and downloads

Source: Engadget

Background Play

YouTube is adding background play to its Premium Lite plan. This feature will allow Lite users to continue listening to most videos while using other apps or when the screen is off. The announcement follows Google’s recent crackdown on free workarounds that let non‑Premium users access background playback. Google told Android Authority that background playback is intended to be exclusive to YouTube Premium members, and the new update extends it to Premium Lite subscribers.

Downloads

Premium Lite users will also gain the ability to download most videos for offline viewing. This brings another core Premium feature to the lower‑cost tier, which is priced at $8 per month and already provides an ad‑free experience for the majority of videos (with some exceptions such as YouTube Music).

These features will begin rolling out today and will be available to Premium Lite subscribers over the coming weeks.