iOS 14 Picture in Picture No Longer Working With YouTube's Mobile Website in Safari [Without Premium]

[Vasilisxd]

When I was on Android side , I simply wasn’t paying for anything. I had to be an Apple user to pay Google.

 

[jwin3618]

Hi guys, Its looks like picture in picture for iphone works for the mobile desktop but only if you have youtube premium

 

[Zmmyt]

Only problem is that Premium doesn't offer PiP. It only offers background audio, which is likely due to people just playing music video playlists in the background instead of paying for Google Music... which is also now part of Premium.

I didn’t realise this, since I haven’t tried PiP on my iPhone. I personally think it’s rather unnecessary, but I guess you should have the option when you start paying more then a tenner to google.

And they still collect all your data. That’s the one thing that really pisses me off.

 

[ShinyApps]

Thats how they get you. I signed up for YT premium almost 2yrs ago...never been back since. Can't even watch YT without it and I also watch LOTS of Youtube. Honestly, this 9.99 is worth my streaming costs THE MOST out of all of the services I pay for....maybe except Apple Music.

 

[centauratlas]

"it's not clear what's going on"

Sounds like they are actively blocking it to get people to pay for Premium. ~$12/month, no thanks.

 

[LegCortex]

I like how everyone in this thread is like “stand on one leg with your arms in a ‘T’ pose while clearing your mind of any negative thoughts … and then it’ll work.” 😂

 

[c14nhl]

Glad it can still be activated when requesting the desktop site, happy to use that workaround.

 

[PC97]

Works for me. Play video, switch to full screen, swipe up, voila.

 

[Princejb134]

What’s so hard about adding it on YouTube. I don’t understand.

its not hard its just that they want you to pay for their premium service

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

You can still do it. Pull up the YouTube video in safari. Go full screen, then swipe up to go home. The video will go into PIP and continue to play.

It doesn’t work for me. It goes to PIP for a second and then closes now.

 

[ghanwani]

Attempting to use Picture in Picture on a video on the mobile YouTube website simply doesn't work.

Do we know who to blame?

 

[temptee]

If YouTube cared about money they wouldn't be demonetizing and deplatforming people the way they have over the past 5 years. This "glitch" is just a flex.

 

[rgeneral]

Damm YouTube. No I will not pay premium

 

[coffeeplease]

Don't be naive, they disabled it on purpose

 

[coolfactor]

When I was on Android side , I simply wasn’t paying for anything. I had to be an Apple user to pay Google.

You were paying — with your personal data. iOS users are more protected, particularly with the new release, so Google is forcing you to purchase Premium, or switch back to Android.

 

[Chaos215bar2]

Open YT in private mode and it starts to work and then closes the video stream.

...

That seems intentional.

As a YouTube Premium subscriber, this behavior is disgusting. The feature clearly worked, and Google seems to have disabled it purely out of spite in order to get people to subscribe.

I subscribe to support creators (to the small extent that it does — I also use Patreon) and to get rid of the advertising, not so that I can use features offered natively by my viewing platform of choice.

 

[KidAKidB]

YouTube is a business, not a charity.

 

[xxray]

The fact that YouTube Premium is $15.99 per month blows my mind. So expensive for so little. I have noticed they’ve been showing more ads, longer ads, and less skippable ads though, which is getting really old.

 

[Monstieur]

For PIP:

1. Request Desktop Website
2. Play the video (it automatically goes fullscreen)
3. Swipe up to go Home

For background audio:

1. Request Desktop Website
2. Play the video (it automatically goes fullscreen)
3. Exit fullscreen (the video automatically stops)
4. Open a new tab
5. Open Control Center and press Play
6. Continue browsing in the new tab or swipe up to go Home

 

[andrewsipes]

The fact that YouTube Premium is $15.99 per month blows my mind. So expensive for so little. I have noticed they’ve been showing more ads, longer ads, and les skippable ads though, which is getting really old.

It is an incredible deal when using the family plan and splitting it with 6 people. At the current price, I will never go back to watching ads on YouTube. For most people, it is a pretty great music service too!

 

[redman042]

If a business offers a paid version of their product with added features, and a workaround to that pops up, OF COURSE they are going to intervene. I'm surprised they waited until after the iOS 14 release.

That said, some of what YouTube reserves for premium is stupid and they should rethink their strategy. But we don't get a lot of say in that.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Well, how about PIP in Chrome? (I don't have iOS14 yet, just asking)

 

[andrewsipes]

While this is a bit shady, my real beef is that they will go out of their way to limit this feature, but they won't add the same functionality to their app. I really want PIP in the official YouTube app please!

 

[coldwaves]

Youtube charges a fee to allow background playing. Not surprising they are not enthusiastic about PIP.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Because YouTube is... pick your derogatory term.

Remember when they took away the ability to play audio of videos with the screen off?

Indeed. Or recall when Google chose to not follow the UI guidelines to your TVOS application? Grrrrr still daily grinding my teeth managing the scroll function.

Something really needs to replace the breadth of data from YouTube in a much better layout.