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Hulu Reactivates Picture-in-Picture on iOS 14 in Latest Update

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With its latest App Store update, Hulu has reactivated picture-in-picture for iPhone users running iOS 14, months after stripping the feature from the app.

HuluPictureInPictureFeature.jpg

In the early days of iOS 14 in September, Hulu briefly supported picture-in-picture for iPhone users. Hulu soon removed support, however, to refine the feature and "work on a few updates to provide the best experience for our viewers." Hulu has quietly welcomed back support with the latest update to the app, alongside the typical bug fixes and improvements.

Apple introduced picture-in-picture for the iPhone with iOS 14, allowing users to continue watching a video while also browsing other apps on their device. Popular video-based apps such as Netflix have supported the feature for some time, while others like YouTube for iOS have not. Luckily for users running the iOS 14.5 beta, YouTube on the web does currently have picture-in-picture support, but given the past, it's unclear if it's here to stay.

Article Link: Hulu Reactivates Picture-in-Picture on iOS 14 in Latest Update
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/02/hulu-ios-14-picture-in-picture/
This is a welcomed re-addition. Still waiting on YouTube though. Makes no sense that it works when browsing through Safari but not through the app that I pay $12/mo for.
 
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I have been waiting for NBC apps (NBC, Peacock, NBSCN) to support this. Love to watch hockey on NBCSN and would be great to have the ability to watch PIP on occasion, but they seem to be locked into their add driven video player :(
 
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Ellis.adam said:
I have been waiting for NBC apps (NBC, Peacock, NBSCN) to support this. Love to watch hockey on NBCSN and would be great to have the ability to watch PIP on occasion, but they seem to be locked into their add driven video player :(
Click to expand...

They have gotten bruuuuutal with that NBCSN app. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their ads got interrupted by another ad run at this point.
 
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BuffaloTF said:
They have gotten bruuuuutal with that NBCSN app. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their ads got interrupted by another ad run at this point.
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I doubt they will considering that NBCU is killing off NBCSN at the end of the year and folding everything into Peacock.
 
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travoose said:
Looking at you...YOUTUBETV...not sure why it should be a withheld feature when I am paying close to $70 a month for the service.
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Because YouTube and YouTube TV uses it’s own video player. Same reason it is nerfed on the Apple TV. I moved to Hulu + Live when YTTV raised it’s price last summer and have been very happy with the move. Just getting support for the TV App makes it a win.
 
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Has anyone experienced media-specific disabling of PIP? When I was watching The Boys on my iPhone in the Amazon Video app, I could never get PIP working. However, I then later watched some other show and PIP worked just fine as you'd expect when swiping the app up. It started driving me insane, like I wasn't initiating PIP correctly. It's possible PIP simply stopped working until an app update was released, but at the time it very much felt like it was The Boys content that was disabling PIP for the app temporarily. I'll assume I'm insane unless someone else shares the same experience.
 
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Great. Sounds like they figured out a way to effectively serve their ads through PiP... YouTube’s through the browser PiP are completely skippable.
 
techfreak23 said:
Great. Sounds like they figured out a way to effectively serve their ads through PiP... YouTube’s through the browser PiP are completely skippable.
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This may have more to do with an ad blocker in the iOS version of Safari; I have Ad Blocker Plus (Pro?--ADP in the icon) and when I watch videos on YouTube all of the ads have the Skip button immediately available.

This Hulu update hasn't shown up for me yet; must still be propagating.
 
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Ellis.adam said:
I have been waiting for NBC apps (NBC, Peacock, NBSCN) to support this. Love to watch hockey on NBCSN and would be great to have the ability to watch PIP on occasion, but they seem to be locked into their add driven video player :(
Click to expand...
It’s brutal. I’ve written negative review after negative review. I tweeted at their accounts and their responses were basically… huh?

My workaround is to go to their website. Keep ignoring a kickback to the app and PIP will work. Linking below for reference.

NBC TV Network - Live & Upcoming events

Watch live events or check upcoming events.
www.nbcsports.com
 
Rogifan said:
Is there a reason Apple can’t mandate every video app offer PiP?
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They absolutely can. Which is one of the benefits of having the App Store as the only possibility to download apps. Sure, there definitely are big drawbacks - but I do think that developers and consumers both benefit hugely from the current system. Often, critics fail to acknowledge the benefits.
 
LordCoe13 said:
This is a welcomed re-addition. Still waiting on YouTube though. Makes no sense that it works when browsing through Safari but not through the app that I pay $12/mo for.
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They are not going to read your posts on this forum, but they will take notice if you unsubscribe. Stop paying and if enough people do that they will enable this.
 
EmotionalSnow said:
They absolutely can. Which is one of the benefits of having the App Store as the only possibility to download apps. Sure, there definitely are big drawbacks - but I do think that developers and consumers both benefit hugely from the current system. Often, critics fail to acknowledge the benefits.
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But they won’t. It’s very rare that one of such advantages actually manifest itself , they’re mostly theoretical. They could force apps to enable the feature but they didn’t do it and probably won’t do it. The disadvantages however are clear: increased prices, reduced choice, nanny company banning things like porn or whatever else apple doesn’t like.
 
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