Blocking free users from playing music when they close the app or turn off the screen seems particularly greedy, especially when YouTube Music sends a notification urging free users to subscribe to keep listening.

While all good news, it’s frankly stunning that it took this long for Google to add these essential features. Other new features coming to free YouTube Music include free continuous radio stations and shuffle.įree YouTube Music will also support Google’s Assistant driving mode, letting users control YouTube Music hands-free. It’s a huge step forward for free users of Google’s music streaming platform, which previously forced them to keep the YouTube Music app open.Īlong with background music, the change will let users keep listening to music with the screen off. Google announced via a news release that starting November 3, 2021, it would no longer stop music from playing when free YouTube Music users closed the app. The ad-free service also offers offline downloads and higher audio quality.Free users of YouTube Music in Canada will finally be able to listen to music in the background starting next month. Up until now, users had to subscribe to the YouTube Premium tier to get background listening. Music lovers rejoice!🎵 Background listening is coming to the app, and 🇨🇦 will be the first to enjoy this new feature starting Nov 3! Get radio-like listening with your screen off and don’t stop the music! 🎶🎶🎶 Instead, the company only suggests that people “stay tuned for additional information and expansion plans.” Advertisements

Related | YouTube TV Expands Its Spanish-Language Programmingįor the time being, only users in Canada will benefit, and YouTube hasn’t provided a possible launch date for users from around the world. On November 3, YouTube Music users in Canada will be the first to try the feature that lets you listen to music while using other apps or features on your phone – as well as locking your screen without interrupting listening. YouTube is enabling background listening on its Music app for the first time. In November, YouTube is adding a new background listening feature to YouTube Music’s free subscription tier.

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