After a year of back and forth swaps of YouTube picture-in-picture mode for Apple iOS devices, YouTube has finally made it official that it’s rolling out the much awaited feature to the iPhone users.
Ever since Apple announced that it supports picture in picture mode for videos from iOS 14, iPhone users around the world were curious about it. However, the disappointment arrived only later stating the feature was not applicable for YouTube videos. Nevertheless, sketchy attempts to use YouTube picture in picture mode was made via personalized Apple Shortcuts. For a short while, users were able to use YouTube picture in picture mode by playing the videos via Safari browser instead of playing it on the app. YouTube responded by blocking such loose ends from their end and since then iOS users are left to use YouTube without picture in picture mode.
On the other hand, it is also important to note that the Google owned video streaming platform allows picture in picture mode for all YouTube Premium users on Android since the launch of Android Oreo, 2017. It’s been nearly four years for Google to roll out the same to its mobile OS counterpart.
In a recent statement, YouTube officially quoted
“Picture-in-Picture (PiP) allows users to watch YouTube videos in a small mini player while simultaneously browsing outside of the YouTube app on their mobile device. We’re starting to roll out PiP for YouTube Premium members on iOS and plan to launch PiP for all US iOS users as well”
Though YouTube did not quote an exact timeline on the roll out date, it is expected to be available for the YouTube Premium subscribers in the next couple of weeks.
Notes:
- The picture in picture mode for YouTube videos is a subscription-only feature and not applicable for all users.
The picture in picture for iOS users is in-progress in US only. Users from other regions will follow US in the upcoming months.
