Apple rolled out the Picture in Picture mode on the iPhone in iOS 14 and the iPad with iOS 13, but you wouldn’t know it by using the YouTube app. While the feature has technically been around for most of a year, it was limited to Premium subscribers before disappearing last week.
Earlier today, Google’s Team YouTube Twitter account appeared to confirm that it will be rolled out “on all iOS 15+ devices within a few days.” The account did not specify whether it will remain a Premium feature, but it doesn’t matter. A few hours later, it “clarified” its comment by saying the feature isn’t coming to the YouTube app at all, but rather to YouTube TV, which costs $65 a month.
To clarify, what is currently rolling out is the YouTube TV Picture-in-Picture for iOS 15+ devices. If you refer to the one for the YouTube app, it is only available to Premium members on Android mobile phones. https://t.co/wB9vUWtm3U
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) Apr 11, 2022
Picture in Picture allows you to switch to another app while continuing to watch a video. In apps that support it, such as Safari, FaceTime, and Chrome, you can swipe out of the app while a video is playing to minimize it to the bottom of the screen. The video overlaps any app you open and can be resized and moved to any corner of the screen.
Of course, that feature would be quite useful for YouTube. As it stands, you have to keep the app on your screen open to view anything. Once you switch to a new app or return to the home screen, the video will stop playing. However, if someone really wants to use it, it seems they should switch to an Android phone.
To enable Picture in Picture for other apps, go to the General tab in the Settings app and tap Picture in Picture. Then turn the Start PiP Automatically switch.
This post YouTube Picture in Picture is finally coming to iPhone and iPad (update: or not)
was original published at “https://www.macworld.com/article/631241/youtube-picture-in-picture-iphone-ipad.html”