YouTube Restores iOS 14 Picture in Picture Capability on Mobile Website

Tonight, the YouTube website has started allowing iOS 14 devices to use the built-in Picture in Picture functionality for its videos even without a Premium account.

This is an apparent reversal of a change that YouTube explicitly made following the release of iOS 14 which blocked such behavior. At that time, YouTube would only allow that capability for users with Premium accounts. Tonight's change means that any YouTube visitor can use Picture in Picture in Safari.


iOS 14 introduced native Picture in Picture capability to the iPhone for the first time, however, apps have to explicitly support the feature. YouTube's native app has never supported Picture in Picture for any of its users even though iPadOS has offered the capability for some time. There have been reports that YouTube has been testing this feature, but there have been no announcements.

As a result, iOS 14 users have had to resort to using YouTube in Safari as a workaround. Since there have been no announcements either way, it's unclear if this change is permanent or not.

Thanks Jorge

Related Forum: iOS 14

Top Rated Comments

ctg7w6 Avatar
46 months ago
How about you let me use it from the app itself? It should be free as a part of iOS, but I am also a premium subscriber. I wish there were a YouTube alternative. Unfortunately, due to the (insane) number of ads it is actually worth it TO ME to subscribe even if I get jacked over and don't get PiP from the app.

Honestly, YouTube is a pretty shameful company.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rjp1 Avatar
46 months ago

How about you let me use it from the app itself? It should be free as a part of iOS, but I am also a premium subscriber. I wish there were a YouTube alternative. Unfortunately, due to the (insane) number of ads it is actually worth it TO ME to subscribe even if I get jacked over and don't get PiP from the app.

Honestly, YouTube is a pretty shameful company.
You should really consider using an ad blocker. They get rid of all Youtube ads. More importantly, they get rid of a lot of dangerous ads.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jamieinoc Avatar
46 months ago

This just might have been a bug. Pip continued to work in chrome and Firefox even though it didn’t work in safari and edge.

What I want to know is, when is 4K (non hdr) coming to iPhone and appletv 4K?
It wasn’t a bug. There was code specifically designed to detect PIP and stop it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iZac Avatar
46 months ago
Don’t worry they’ll still drill you with constant “one month free trial” Premium offers.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
javisan Avatar
46 months ago
Enabling in Safari works perfect for me as that is how I view YouTube in my iPhone. I have an adblocker that completely removes all ads embedded to the videos.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tapoma Avatar
46 months ago

YouTube provides nearly unlimited entertainment. You think they give this out for free? Ads are the only thing that’s keeping the website running. Those servers storing those videos aren’t cheap to maintain. It’s also how creators get paid as well, the creators can choose how many ads show up in a video.

They have a paid subscription if you don’t want to see ads, what’s there to complain about again?
The issue with YouTube Premium is the cost. It is not providing sufficient value for money for us as customers. £11.99 per month to remove ads is completely excessive, and they have purposely degraded the free experience (in app) in order to annoy customers into subscribing.

If Google let us pay to remove ads in the app and have background playback at a reasonable price I’d pay for it because I use the YouTube app a lot. But they bundle it with a music streaming service I have no interest in, and YouTube originals which I also have no interest in.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Friday April 12, 2024 11:11 am PDT by
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...
iOS NES Emulator Bimmy Feature

NES Emulator for iPhone and iPad Now Available on App Store [Removed]

Tuesday April 16, 2024 11:33 am PDT by
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
iGBA Feature

Apple Removes Game Boy Emulator iGBA From App Store Due to Spam and Copyright Violations

Sunday April 14, 2024 9:22 pm PDT by
Apple today said it removed Game Boy emulator iGBA from the App Store for violating the company's App Review Guidelines related to spam (section 4.3) and copyright (section 5.2), but it did not provide any specific details. iGBA was a copycat version of developer Riley Testut's open-source GBA4iOS app. The emulator rose to the top of the App Store charts following its release this weekend,...
Delta Feature

Delta Game Emulator Now Available From App Store on iPhone

Wednesday April 17, 2024 9:58 am PDT by
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
iGBA Feature

Game Boy Emulator for iPhone Now Available in App Store Following Rule Change [Removed]

Sunday April 14, 2024 8:06 am PDT by
A week after Apple updated its App Review Guidelines to permit retro game console emulators, a Game Boy emulator for the iPhone called iGBA has appeared in the App Store worldwide. The emulator is already one of the top free apps on the App Store charts. It was not entirely clear if Apple would allow emulators to work with all and any games, but iGBA is able to load any Game Boy ROMs that...
iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Translate

All iPhone 16 Models to Feature Action Button, But Usefulness Debated

Tuesday April 16, 2024 6:54 am PDT by
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...