YouTube’s cheaper subscription is getting background play and downloads

YouTube is adding background playback and offline downloads to YouTube Premium Lite, its $7.99-per-month subscription. With the change, you’ll be able to keep YouTube videos going while you use another app on your phone or save videos to watch when you’re offline.

YouTube Premium Lite came to the US just about a year ago as a more affordable way to watch YouTube with fewer ads, but it lacked background playback and offline downloads. In its blog post, the company said that it had “heard feedback about wanting these additional features included in the service.” The features are rolling out beginning Tuesday and will be available everywhere that Premium Lite is in “the coming weeks.”

With YouTube Premium Lite, “most” videos are ad-free, but you might still see ads with music content, Shorts, and “when you search or browse,” according to YouTube. If you want to go fully ad-free with YouTube and YouTube Music, you’ll need to pay for the full YouTube Premium subscription, which costs $13.99 per month. (YouTube also offers Premium plans for families and for students.)