YouTube Rolling Out Picture-in-Picture Support on iOS for All U.S. Users, Premium Users Globally

YouTube today announced that it has begun rolling out picture-in-picture support for all iOS users in the United States, allowing iPhone and iPad owners to close the YouTube app when watching a video and continue to view the content in a small pop-up window while doing other things on their devices.

YouTube Picture in Picture Feature
Picture-in-picture support has previously available to YouTube premium subscribers in the United States, but now it is available to all U.S. YouTube users. For other countries, a premium subscription is required to access the picture-in-picture feature. Picture-in-picture is available to U.S. non-subscribers for non-music videos, and it will not be available for music unless you have a premium subscription.


Google confirmed last year that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to both premium and non-paying YouTube users and it has been in testing, but it took some time for the feature to be implemented for all. "We recognize this has been a slow roll out for a highly requested feature," reads the support article on picture-in-picture. YouTube said it wants to "want to thank everyone who shared feedback during experiments and waited patiently for this moment."

To use picture-in-picture in the YouTube app, just select a video to watch and then exit out of YouTube by swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen. The video will transfer to a mini player that can be moved around the display.

The picture-in-picture feature is available to ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ devices running iOS and iPadOS 15 and higher, and it will be rolling out over the next several days.

Tag: YouTube

Top Rated Comments

Captain_Mac Avatar
12 months ago
Wow. It took them only (*checks calendar*) 7 years???
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UltimateSyn Avatar
12 months ago
Finally. Ridiculous that they ever intentionally disabled a built-in feature just to paywall it.

And ridiculous that they’re still doing that outside of the U.S.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lnds500 Avatar
12 months ago
US only for non premium. Ffs
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProfessionalFan Avatar
12 months ago
Why do I feel like this was launched and taken away 50 times already?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
El Patron Avatar
12 months ago
Just buy the Vinegar extension and you’ll have PiP and ad free YouTube across all of your Apple devices. Best $2 I spent on the App Store.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DanteHicks79 Avatar
12 months ago

Wow. It took them only (*checks calendar*) 7 years???
YouTube, being a Google property, is involved in the ongoing animosity between Apple/Google. Android has had YouTube PiP for a while now, being a platform exclusive.

Frankly, I'm surprised they even brought it to iPhone, at all.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)