Xiaomi Removes A Long-Standing YouTube Feature, And We All Know Why

Xiaomi Removes A Long-Standing YouTube Feature, And We All Know Why

There’s a neat little feature baked into Xiaomi smartphones that its users certainly appreciate – the ability to play YouTube videos in the background, even when the screen is off. First introduced with MIUI 12, this feature is going away, as the company cited “compliance requirements.”

“Due to compliance requirements, we regret to inform you that we have removed the ‘Play video sound with screen off’ function in the video toolbox feature and the ‘Turn off screen’ function in the game toolbox feature through Over-The-Air (OTA) updates,” Xiaomi announced via the Mi Fans Telegram channel.

The announcement also provided a list of affected models, which includes the latest Xiaomi 14 (review here), 13, 13 Pro, 12T, and many more.

As for why – if you’ve been on the Internet for the last few months, there’s a good chance you can figure out the reason why Xiaomi pulled the plug on this neat feature. If not, here’s why: video playback in background is a YouTube Premium feature, and given the recent crackdown efforts on users skirting feature limitations (such as ads), Xiaomi’s feature naturally becomes an obvious target.

If you need the feature, you’ll have to either stop the update from coming through, or pay YouTube a monthly Premium subscription to regain the feature back.

Source: Android Authority

Pokdepinion: Not surprised that Google decided to go after them, but rather surprised that it has survived this long.