YouTube is currently rolling out picture-in-picture mode for iPhone and iPad devices. It’s a feature Apple enabled back in iOS 13, but YouTube wasn’t one of the apps that chose to head down the picture-in-picture path.
Picture-in-picture mode is a multitasking feature for Apple devices, letting you view content in the corner of your phone while using another app. You’re probably most familiar with it through video chatting apps like FaceTime and Google Meet, which both have picture-in-picture mode, letting you view call participants while you’re using your phone.
Picture-in-picture mode is also available on streaming apps, such as Disney+ and Netflix, allowing you to watch shows while doomscrolling on Twitter or while writing a text. It’s a feature for people who love to have several things going on at once, but if you prefer to focus your attention on a show entirely, you’ve probably hardly noticed the mode.
Well, now the mode is available for the YouTube app… But there’s a catch.
If you’re a non-premium YouTube user on iPhone or iPad, you’re probably all too familiar with the playback stopping as soon as you exit the app (without turning the app off), particularly if you’ve used YouTube to listen to music you can’t find on any other streaming service.
On other music streaming apps like Spotify, and some video streaming apps (particularly those with picture-in-picture mode), the content will typically continue to play outside of the app unless paused.
YouTube’s picture-in-picture mode feature, and for out-of-app playback, requires YouTube Premium, which costs $11.99 per month.
Here’s the official line from the YouTube blog:
Globally, all Premium members on iPhone and iPad will have access to picture-in-picture for all content, both music and non-music. To turn on the feature, go to settings > general in your YouTube app and turn-on picture-in-picture. If you don’t turn on picture-in-picture, you’ll still be able to use background play by default (based on your feedback from our experiments)! Premium members with Android devices already have this feature and will continue to. Learn more about where Premium is available here.
Users in the U.S. will be able to use picture-in-picture mode with “non-music content”.
If you want to listen to music from the YouTube library while also using a YouTube Premium account, then it’s probably a good idea to download YouTube Music (Google’s Equivalent to Spotify). Otherwise, you might become annoyed with picture-in-picture if you’re using YouTube for music instead of videos, though you can disable it as already stated.
This update is available for iPhone iPadOS devices running version 15 or higher, rolling out globally across the next several days.