Apple introduced the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) ability via iOS 14 last year, which enabled iPhone users to pop-up minimised videos from FaceTime or other compatible apps on their home screen. While it is possible for users to activate PiP for YouTube through Safari, the same can’t be said for the video streaming platform’s mobile application.
This is no longer the issue, thanks to the latest update for the app that is currently rolling out worldwide. However, according to 9to5Google, PiP support is only available to YouTube Premium members for now. Additionally, not everyone has received the update at this time, as it is still in the rollout process.
In order to activate this feature, all you have to do is play a video on the YouTube app, and then simply swipe up on the screen to return home. By doing so, the active video will pop-up in a tiny window on your phone’s screen, along with overlaid play, pause, rewind and forward controls on the top-right corner. In addition, Premium members can minimise the video entirely in the background while its audio continues to play out. Other than that, you can resize the window to your liking by pinching it, and a standard shortcut is also available to bring up the YouTube app.
YouTube picture-in-picture is finally working on the iOS app after all these years 😂. Although I would guess it’s only if you have Premium obviously :/ pic.twitter.com/6YOEGFEqFk
— Harrison Gray (@hgray_99) June 18, 2021
Those not on Premium will be glad to know that Google has confirmed with 9to5Google that it is planning to launch YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture support for all iOS users, starting with the US region. Unfortunately, the company did not detail on an expected time frame for the rollout.
(Source: 9to5Google / Harrison Gray [Twitter] | Header image: Pexels)
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