YouTube Music free will no longer play videos for its users, becoming an audio-only streaming platform.
The change will come gradually, but will begin to roll out from November 3.
YouTube Music Free will provide background audio playback
Free YouTube Music users will no longer have access to video playback on the music streaming platform. On the other hand, they will get the functionality of having audio playback in the background.
The announcement was made by YouTube itself in a post on its support page that explains everything in detail. Therefore, soon only users of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium services will be able to enjoy video playback.
On the other hand, free users of both services not only lose video functionality, but also cannot skip songs unlimitedly.
The background playback function continues to work with the mobile device “asleep”
But it is not all bad news. The free version will now offer background playback functionality, as well as maintaining access to themed playlists and a catalog full of millions of songs. Of course, the playback will be interrupted by advertisements.
Another piece of good news is that the new background play feature will continue to play music even if the app is not open or the device screen is idle. Remember that this was a unique feature of YouTube’s paid services.
According to the music streaming platform, the changes will begin rolling out on November 3, with Canada being the first country to receive them.
However, YouTube has not yet revealed its plans for the global expansion of these changes, so we do not know the specific date on which Portuguese users of this service will receive the good and bad news.
