YouTube Says iOS Picture-in-Picture Coming to All Users 'in a Matter of Days' [Updated]

[aevan]

Google is a mess.

So, they had this feature as some sort of trial/experimental thing for Premium users.
Then they removed it - but it still works.
Then they said they have no plans to add it officially?

Everything about Google, including their decision making, is adds and data - and this is proving to be difficult on iOS more and more, I guess.

 

[Jeven Stobs]

Good shout - what's the PiP shortcut? I have Wipr on Safari and I think that has ad-blocked pretty well thus far with the 'web app'.

There used to be a forums article Gin MacRumors but I couldn’t find it. You can “program” it yourself by some tutorials, but who’s really gonna do that?

YT PiP

That’s my iCloud link to the shortcut, spread the word.

 

[cupcakes2000]

It's my opinion. Maybe not yours or others, just saying if YT ended tomorrow, the world wouldn't end. It might actually become more productive with people finding they have extra hours (many) to do something.

Weird thing to say. It's a huge catch all for lots of things. Sure, there's lots of nonsense on it (like regular TV) but there is an awful lot of useful things on it too. You can teach yourself pretty much anything you want. You can watch respected news outlets. You can keep fit, you can listen to music, you can search for a random retro advert from your childhood, you can play quiz games. You can watch tech reviews, car reviews, any product reviews. I mean anything. It's probably one of the most productive places you can be on the internet, for the consumption of things. It's just a shame it's being slowly and systematically ruined by google.

 

[svish]

Looks like it is still a premium feature for the time being. Hope it becomes available for all users soon.

 

[netslacker]

FTA: "If you're referring to the YouTube app, it's only available to Premium members on Android mobile phones.”

Not true. Pip works on the iOS app for premium subscribers, too.

 

[OS X Dude]

There used to be a forums article Gin MacRumors but I couldn’t find it. You can “program” it yourself by some tutorials, but who’s really gonna do that?

YT PiP

That’s my iCloud link to the shortcut, spread the word.

Ledge*; thanks mate!

*English shorthand for legend, meaning 'someone going above and beyond for someone else' 😛

 

[aevan]

FTA: "If you're referring to the YouTube app, it's only available to Premium members on Android mobile phones.”

Not true. Pip works on the iOS app for premium subscribers, too.

For now. They actually disabled this “test” feature. Yes, it still works, but I’m not sure if it would continue working if I reinstalled the app, and if it will continue to work after an app update.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

If that’s the reason then have they enabled PiP/background playback on Android for everyone?

Google has their own playback API for Android that can serve ads. PiP is limited to Premium though, and they can do that because it’s their own platform on their own App Store.

They can’t do the same on iOS. They have to follow Apple’s App Store rules which is any apps using Apple’s core API (like video playback) has to have all of that feature available to everyone. Meaning PiP which is part of playback API has to be available to everyone, not just premium.

Which means Google has to make PiP available to all YouTube users. And this means serving ads to non premium customers, which is somewhat difficult to do when using Apple’s API while using PIP, considering Google uses its own ad API to serve ads on video.

(If a feature using a core API is beta feature that’s meant for limited amount of users to test out, Apple allows grace period)

 

[mi7chy]

Good thing there's still YouTube Vanced which does adblocking of injected ads, skipping of in-video sponsor ads and PiP.

 

[netslacker]

For now. They actually disabled this “test” feature. Yes, it still works, but I’m not sure if it would continue working if I reinstalled the app, and if it will continue to work after an app update.

When was it disabled? I started YT premium in May of last year and it’s worked for me ever since. Also recently updated my iPhone and it still works. There’s been plenty of app updates in there too. So, just curious how likely it is that this goes away cause it doesn’t seem very likely at this point. I guess we’re talking Google here so anything is possible…

 

[Ecuadorexpat]

Solution: delete youtube app, use youtube in brave browser and add the video to playlist (pink button at the top) pip will work

Amazing macrumors allowed this post. I have been doing this with brave for years. And, no ads!

 

[Ecuadorexpat]

They are not saying anything about the iPad, so I guess it will only come to iPhone. I would much rather have it on iPad…

Already happening on iPad using brave browser. You have to go Max screen, then the PIP icon shows up and it floats. Google probably doesn’t even know this, forcing employees to chrome.

 

[aevan]

When was it disabled? I started YT premium in May of last year and it’s worked for me ever since. Also recently updated my iPhone and it still works. There’s been plenty of app updates in there too. So, just curious how likely it is that this goes away cause it doesn’t seem very likely at this point. I guess we’re talking Google here so anything is possible…

It was always an “experimental feature” for Premium users - for a limited time. Recently (something like a week ago? Not sure) it expired and YT app even said that the feature expired (maybe you missed it).

And yes, it still works. But - I don’t know if it will keep working. I hope it does, but as you said: it’s Google. Also, I don’t think new users, even Premium ones, can activate it any more.

Here is a screenshot from the settings in my YT app (as you can see it says "expired" - and yes, PiP still works for me):

 

[MikeDProducer]

I’m terrified an update will take away the PIP “test” that I’ve become so dependent on.

Has anyone who was using PIP updated to 17.15.1?

 

[dontwalkhand]

I’m terrified an update will take away the PIP “test” that I’ve become so dependent on.

Has anyone who was using PIP updated to 17.15.1?

I updated and it still works for me. I did cancel premium though in protest, of them removing this feature even for paying customers, so I’ll update wether it still works after that expires.

 

[mjs916]

Check out Vinegar.

‎Vinegar - Tube Cleaner

‎Vinegar is a Safari extension that replaces the YouTube player with a minimal HTML video tag. It removes ads, restores picture-in-picture, and keeps videos playing in the background. Note: The "can read information from webpages" text in the permission section is just unfortunate wording...

apps.apple.com

This is what I’ve been using. No need for the YouTube app at the moment because of these browser options.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

Good thing there's still YouTube Vanced which does adblocking of injected ads, skipping of in-video sponsor ads and PiP.

Uhhhhh bad news: Google sent a cease ad desist so the app is dead.

Google also decided to sue the creators just in case.

YouTube Vanced is shutting down “due to legal reasons”

Vanced has been discontinued and downloads will disappear.

www.theverge.com

 

[dontwalkhand]

Uhhhhh bad news: Google sent a cease ad desist so the app is dead.

Google also decided to sue the creators just in case.

YouTube Vanced is shutting down “due to legal reasons”

Vanced has been discontinued and downloads will disappear.

www.theverge.com

They better not kill Vinegar.

 

[dontwalkhand]

This is what I’ve been using. No need for the YouTube app at the moment because of these browser options.

I got this and cancelled Premium, since PiP stopped working for me!

 

[mjs916]

I'm sure it's not charity on Google's part. I think they finally realized they can earn more ad revenue by letting users do "distracted viewing" of videos, ie partially paying attention like only listening to the video while browsing the web instead of watching with 100% attention. Of course that's not great for advertisers paying for ad placement.

I’ve definitely been noticing less options to skip ads lately.

 

[mi7chy]

Uhhhhh bad news: Google sent a cease ad desist so the app is dead.

Google also decided to sue the creators just in case.

YouTube Vanced is shutting down “due to legal reasons”

Vanced has been discontinued and downloads will disappear.

www.theverge.com

It's still working from apkmirror.com repository using Vanced Manager to auto install or manually installing MicroG plus YouTube Vanced separately. Did it to three devices so it's not completely dead yet. Best YouTube experience ever.

 

[Appleman3546]

Apple should kick YouTube off until they support Picture in Picture, it is a native is feature so that should be a violation of their terms for blocking users from it. In any event, they are losing me as an ad source because I am going to other apps with PIP support.

 

[Joey2250]

In a matter of days? Did I miss an update where they pushed it back? Its May 5th now and I still don't have it.

EDIT: Oh yes there was an update i missed, Youtube said this was for YoutubeTV not the Youtube app. Lame.

 

[CBR900RR]

Strange, youtube PIP never work on my iphone 11 before with ios 15.6, never a youtube premium subscriber either, and PIP is working now, check on my other iphoneXP and it doesnt work.

 

[imaginex20]

YouTube iOS PiP works for me with YouTube app with tonight’s update!! I am not a premium user.