YouTube Still Testing Picture-in-Picture on iOS With Premium Subscribers [Updated]

YouTube today extended its testing period for the iPhone's picture-in-picture feature by an additional two weeks.

YouTube Picture in Picture Feature
YouTube Premium subscribers now have access to picture-in-picture mode on iOS as an "experimental feature" until February 14, according to YouTube. The feature was originally set to be available until January 31, but the date has been pushed forward several times.

Picture-in-picture mode is available on iPhones running iOS 14 and later, and it allows videos to be watched while using other apps. When watching a video, users can tap the picture-in-picture button with two boxes and an arrow to move the video to a smaller window that floats over the Home Screen or other apps.

In a statement shared with MacRumors in June 2021, a Google spokesperson said YouTube planned to launch picture-in-picture for all iOS users in the United States, but no timeframe was provided for the rollout. We've reached out to Google for an update on the matter and we'll update this story if we receive any new information.

In the meantime, picture-in-picture on iOS remains exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers. Priced at $11.99 per month in the U.S., YouTube Premium features ad-free videos, the ability to download videos, video playback when a device's screen is locked, and more.

Update: In a statement shared with MacRumors today, Google said it is "still planning to launch PiP for all users without a YouTube Premium subscription in the US," but it has no further updates to provide at this time.

We're still planning to launch PiP for all users without a YouTube Premium subscription in the US. We have no other updates to share at this time. In the meantime, we've also extended our experiment of PiP on youtube.com/new for our Premium users on iOS as we continue to test and improve the experience before launch.

(Thanks, IceCool Tech!)

Tag: YouTube

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple Leak Confirms Work on Foldable iPhone, AirTag 2, and Dozens More Devices

Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak. As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple Logo Top Half

Early iOS 26 Software Leak Uncovers Dozens of Upcoming Apple Features

Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code. In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2 Likely to Offer These 10 New Features

Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...

Top Rated Comments

jooish Avatar
51 months ago
Does it get any scummier than removing a free feature to charge users for it?
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
51 months ago
Just give it to everyone. Sheesh, it is downright silly to gate this of all things. And a few months ago I did a Premium trial and was unsurprisingly disappointed to find out you couldn't even do PIP on my iPad Pro with Premium at the time – all the documentation was just for iOS for a reason. Absolutely nonsense – it's 100% about the ad consumption experience.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FSMBP Avatar
51 months ago
A little crazy that on my 2012 MacBook Pro, I can do PIP with Safari in YouTube.

But, somehow in 2022, this is turning into a paid-feature on iOS.

Sounds like we're going backwards
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikeCam Avatar
51 months ago
'Testing' lol
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rudy69 Avatar
51 months ago
Get Vinegar, it will force YouTube to use the built in media player....which of course supports PiP just fine
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dwalls90 Avatar
51 months ago

It’s not for Apple to challenge them.
To each their own opinion, but an app developer impairing an iOS user's experience by gatekeeping a core OS feature behind a subscription seems like something Apple would be interested in going after.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)