Your YouTube viewing experience is about to get a lot better.
Photo: YouTube
YouTube is making picture-in-picture (PiP) available to all users worldwide for free. This will enable you to watch a YouTube video in a PiP window while using other apps on your iPhone or iPad.
For non-Premium YouTube users, PiP will only work on non-music and long-form videos.
YouTube opens up PiP beyond the US
YouTube users in the US have enjoyed free PiP access since at least 2022. In other markets, YouTube limited the feature to Premium subscribers.
That’s finally changing. YouTube announced that it will roll out Picture-in-Picture (PiP) support to all users worldwide “in the coming months.”
Paying for YouTube Premium will still get you a better PiP experience. While free users are limited to watching non-music, long-form content in picture-in-picture mode, paid subscribers can watch any YouTube video in PiP. The same restrictions also apply to Premium Lite subscribers.
Activating PiP on YouTube is easy. Simply swipe up to go to the home screen on your iPhone or iPad. This will automatically trigger a PiP window to appear. You can move this window around and resize it to your liking.
It’s worth noting that PiP behaves slightly differently depending on how you use YouTube. For example, videos within playlists or certain in-app sections may not always trigger picture-in-picture as expected.
In some cases, you may need to exit full-screen mode before swiping up to activate PiP. Additionally, background playback remains tied to Premium in most regions, meaning audio may stop if you lock your device unless you’re a subscriber.
Since YouTube says the changes will roll out “in the coming months,” you may have a long wait ahead to enjoy PiP for free on your iPhone or iPad.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
