Okay, imagine this: you pay for YouTube Premium Lite, feel good about avoiding ads, and then lock your phone in the middle of the video and everything just stops.
That’s been the quiet frustration of Premium Lite subscribers since the plan’s launch – and YouTube has apparently received enough complaints to actually do something about it.
Long-requested features are coming
Starting February 24th, background playback and offline downloads will be available on Premium Lite. Yes, those two features that should probably be there from day one. Here is the current state of affairs.
Premium Lite has always been positioned as a budget-friendly middle ground – cheaper than the full version of Premium, but still ad-free for most content. The problem was that it felt strangely limping.
No background playback meant your video crashed the second you switched apps. No downloads meant you were stuck on a shaky airport WiFi connection like it was 2012. Not exactly a great pitch.
Still not full premium
YouTube says it expanded the Premium Lite pilot to more countries last year and found interest among users who wanted more. So here we are.
What’s notable, however, is that YouTube is taking a hard line: music videos and YouTube music content are still hidden behind the full Premium subscription.
So if you’re using YouTube as a makeshift Spotify, Lite is still not enough. But for everyone else who’s just trying to watch video essays in the background while doing the dishes? This is a sensible upgrade.
The rollout begins now and will expand to all Premium Lite markets in the coming weeks. Not a bad Tuesday for budget-conscious YouTube fans.
