The YouTube picture-in-picture mode is finally available for iOS.
A feature that was first introduced to Android users, it is now available for iPhone and iPad users, but there's a catch. Find out how you can access the new viewing mode feature on your Apple device.
What Is YouTube Picture-in-Picture?
According to Google, picture-in-picture (PiP) allows its users to watch YouTube videos while accessing and using other apps on their mobile devices.
What then happens is the video shrinks into a small player that the user can move around the home screen and position over apps. The video continues to play, allowing the user to carry on with other tasks on the mobile drive, perfect for people who love to have YouTube podcasts or other videos in the background.
To return to the YouTube app, the user simply needs to double tap on the PiP window. If the user wants to dismiss the PiP altogether, the user simply needs to tap on the "X" on the top right corner of the PiP player window.
PiP is not available to all iOS users as of the moment, but YouTube is said to be planning on making PiP viewing available for all iOS users on iPhone and iPad in the future, BGR said.
YouTube finally starting to roll out Picture-in-Picture to iOS devices 😀
— vidIQ (@vidIQ) August 30, 2021
A feature that's been on Android for several years 😡 pic.twitter.com/yJadkqLmKA
How to Use YouTube Picture-in-Picture on iPhone and iPad in 3 Easy Steps
To access the Picture-in-Picture viewing mode on your iPhone and iPad, you will need a YouTube Premium subscription. Once you have your YouTube Premium subscription, all you need to do are the following three easy steps:
1. Head over to YouTube.com/new. Go ahead and sign in to your Google account.
2. Proceed to scroll down and find the "Picture-in-Picture on iOS" feature.
3. Click on the "Try it out" button.
And that's all you need to do to activate the feature! Now you can head to your iPhone or iPad YouTube app to test out the new viewing feature.
Simply open up any YouTube video of your choice and have it start playing. Swipe up to head to your home screen or press the Home button while the video is still playing. The video will shrink down and there you have it! You've accessed the PiP viewing mode.
YouTube Premium Subscribers Can Now Use iOS Picture-in-Picture: Here’s How https://t.co/iAMNrGLnv2 by @waxeditorial pic.twitter.com/J1FmZErwec
— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) August 25, 2021
Locking the screen of your iPhone or iPad will automatically pause the video, but you can easily resume it with the lock screen media controls.
For a bit of troubleshooting, if you have properly done the three simple steps of activating PiP but find that it's not working, try deleting the YouTube app from your device and reinstalling it. Log back into your YouTube Premium subscription account and you should be able to access PiP mode now.
The test will only last until October 31, BGR noted, so for anyone interested in giving the PiP viewing mode a go, do so before time runs out. The official launch could be set for early November, but this has not yet been confirmed.
