Google is testing native picture-in-picture mode in YouTube for iPhone and iPad

YouTube’s mobile app’s had picture-in-picture (PiP) mode for some time now, but it only works within the app. As soon as you switch apps or land on the Home screen, the video would not continue playing because Google wants to serve you pre-roll ads through the mobile YouTube app. That could change soon as the search company is now testing an iOS-friendly PiP mode.

The new feature is being tested with a small group of users.

Among the beta testers is Apple developer Daniel Yount, who spotted it while watching a live YouTube stream on his iPad. He then took to Twitter to note that picture-in-picture was working on iPadOS with the YouTube app. “It only worked with this live stream, there must be some codec trickery happening behind the scenes for certain playback scenarios,” he added.

This is a major change for YouTube’s iOS app.

https://twitter.com/dyountmusic/status/1299054745248817155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

 

Currently, you can watch YouTube videos in the background only if you’re subscribed to YouTube Premium ($11.99 per month on the web or $15.99 per month via the iOS app). It’s unclear whether this test means that Google will eventually permit YouTube for iOS users to enjoy PiP functionality without having to become a YouTube Premium subscriber.

TUTORIAL: How to use PiP on iPhone 

Interestingly, customers can use PiP for YouTube videos on their Mac without restrictions, whether or not they’re paying users. Power users are aware of a simple workaround: paste a YouTube video’s URL into Safari and start watching on the web, then enter iOS’s PiP mode to continue watching YouTube while interacting with other apps.

PiP has been available on the iPad since iOS 9.

iOS 14 has brought PiP to the iPhone. In addition, Apple has licensed the VP9 coded used on YouTube so people who update to iOs 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14 or macOS Big Sur this fall will finally be able to watch YouTube in 4K in Safari.