Google ultimately launched a new Premium Lite edition of its YouTube subscription in March 2025. Aimed at delivering ad-free viewing for the majority of videos, it omitted two of the core features found in Premium: background play and the option to download videos for offline viewing.
Nearly a year following the introduction of YouTube Premium Lite in the U.S., the company has at last declared that background play and offline video access would no longer be exclusive to YouTube Premium, thereby granting access to Premium Lite users. Although the rollout commenced this week, YouTube indicates it may take several weeks for all accounts to get the update.
YouTube states that the features which remain reserved for the most costly plan include the capability to view and listen to music and music videos without ads, as well as the functionalities for jumping ahead, queuing, and continuing playback. Nevertheless, YouTube just made the Premium Lite plan significantly more appealing, especially after the service took action against a loophole that permitted some users to listen to videos in the background without being a Premium subscriber.