Back in June, Google started rolling out Picture-in-Picture support in YouTube for iPhone. Although it’s not yet widely available, YouTube Premium subscribers can enable PiP in their mobile app.
One perk of being a Premium subscriber is the ability to “try experimental new features.” YouTube.com/new shows what’s available with test capabilities featuring an end date and button to manually enable. To turn it on, tap “Try it out” beside “Picture in-picture on iOS”.
[Update: It is now working for some users on the iPad and iPhone. It might be necessary to delete the app in order to make it work.
Picture-in-picture allows you to watch YouTube videos in a mini-player while still using other apps
How to use: Swipe up (or hit home) while you’re watching a video to close the app. Then, open the mini player and view your video in it.
After you have started a YouTube video, swipe up or press home to generate a PiP. This will allow you to play/pause and rewind/forward control. You can return to the app and close by pressing down. Pinching will enlarge/minimize.
How to enable YouTube Picture in Pictures on iPhone
- Sign in to your Google Account and visit YouTube.com/newYou must be a YouTube Premium subscriber.
- Get “Picture in Picture” on iOSIt’s the second page experiment after “Translate comments”.
- Click “Try it”
- YouTube app for iPhone: Start a videoPiP is not supported on iPad right now
- Close the app to start Picture-in-Picture (Swipe up, or click on the home button).Video will continue to play
Google mentions that “locking the screen in PiP will pause video,” but you can resume using lockscreen media controls. Google also stated that it is “working to improve these, so keep tuned.”
This test willend on October 31. This could indicate when YouTube will widely launch Picture-in-Picture in its iPhone and iPad apps. Google began rolling out this capability for paid users worldwide in June. Google is also offering PiP for free to US users with ads.
