Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iOS 14 Picture in Picture No Longer Working With YouTube's Mobile Website in Safari [Without Premium]
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don’t mind paying for it. I already subscribe to YouTube premium. However if they get rid of it even from premium users it’s a a joke. 4K has already turned out to be a big disappointment.
At the time I posted this we didn’t know it differentiates between premium and non-premium. I’m the one that discovered this distinction and posted it a few posts down from my first one.
Yeah you can play YouTube vids on iOS from Safari... For example go to duck duck go search the YouTube vid. Play the YouTube vid on duck duck go. Go full screen and then hit the pip button.
Oh they care very much about money. They just don’t want any porn on their website.
Can you blame them?
Not that I agree with that other guy that they don't care about money but their demonetizing and deplatforming goes way beyond porn.
It’s Not the same and it’s nothing about feeling entitled.
PIP is a feature trying to better the iOS experience but it’s not a new feature maybe for the phone but not for other devices.
You can play your YouTube videos on your computer and open as many tabs or windows as you like. You can open other apps and the video will still play. You can do this with chromebooks and iPads too.
i listen to some videos like podcast or just like history videos and I don’t always watch the video. So YouTube is just being greedy about it. They have already done this before. They took off the ability to play videos while your phone was off. Then even took of that from desktop mode and now with PIP. All summer I’ve used PIP in the public beta. Now one day or so after iOS14 came out YT took that off and from desktop mode too.
ofc I found some work around and a bug to listen to video while having my screen off. But it’s just BS.
that’s why I have used Adblockers since they came out to block those pesky ads. Now I changed my default search engine to DuckDuckGo and I logged out of my account from YouTube.
There’s two or three work arounds,
In full screen tap on the PIP n turn off your phone. It will let you play the video while you’re screen is off.
Use DuckDuckGo to search for the video. Embedded YT videos can go on PIP
Use a short code for the YT app. The shortcut is on Reddit. But I don’t want to download the YT app.
One more is you can play videos on some video players like VLC. Just download the app and tap on desktop mode. Then it will redirect you back to the app and you can turn off the screen
One more i remembered is if your JB or you use those “AlternativeAppStores”
. There’s an app for YouTube and it lets you do PIP and a bunch of things. It’s called Cercube
Doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried chrome, safari, Firefox, Aloha and tried it on all these browsers on desktop mode too.
found other work arounds like embedded videos but that’s a pain and also DuckDuckGo still works.
I use Safari on my Macs together with Dynamo (App Store) which together allows me to skip over video Ads on YouTube, Facebook etc.
As an iPad user I just slide over YouTube app and PiP no problem. I just can’t move windows around freely. As for background playback, I close the keyboard folio cover and “bam” background playback. I just need to disable auto lock feature.
Why pay $16/mo to YouTube just to get PiP and background playback?
Why pay $16/mo to YouTube just to get PiP and background playback?
Because I don’t want adverts on my videos and I can get the family plan and share the ghastly YouTube music with my husband who uses an android phone. Tried sharing Apple Music on the family plan and could never get it to work.
Last edited:
I’ve discovered an issue with using picture on picture on safari. All my videos are capped at 720p on my iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPad Pro. On the YouTube app I can’t get Picture in Picture but I can watch them at 1080p.
Sure. Here’s the problem though. PiP doesn’t work in the app at all even when you do pay.
Because I hate ads but still want to support the creators. $10+ a month hardly breaks the bank for me and has more than paid for itself in time and frustration saved from not being served ads.
In 2016, there was an all called protube which offered PIP, split screen and way superior performance. It’s not that YouTube can’t do any of this, it’s that they won’t.
These companies are the worst. They drag their heels over implementing new features in iOS, while kicking up a huge fuss over how they are supposedly being screwed over by App Store rules. Which is why I have little sympathy for them. They have done nothing to earn it.
Because no ads really is so much more enjoyable.even on Android when I use pip and pop up window it's nice to know my video won't be interrupted
YouTube is maybe my most used app so for £11.99 a month I think it's worth it
But only if you request desktop version of the site, right? I tested DuckDuckGo and PIP didn’t work for me on the mobile site, just like with Safari.
Exactly. I can’t do adverts. I’ve been subscribed to YouTube premium since it came out in the U.K. A few months after I got it I decided I didn’t want to pay for it anymore. I let the subscription lapse. Then I went to play a video. I was so fed up with the constant interruptions. I re-subscribed before the video ended.
It’s really good value for money. I got it for the as free videos, background audio and video downloads. But it had the added bonus of having google play music and YouTube music included. I use that on my google home devices. Excellent value really.
And it only costs me £17.99 for the family plan which my husband uses. I tried the Apple Music family plan but my husband could never get it to work with his galaxy note. It’s a shame that they are shutting down google play music though. I don’t really like YouTube Music. I really like google play music. I’ve been using it since it started. I’ll have to get used to YouTube music though as apparently it’s going away in October. I’ve already transferred all my music over. Hopefully it sticks around like hangouts which I still use lol
Same. I’m not into music enough (beyond my existing local collection) that I’d ever bother subbing to a streaming service. However, the combo of no ads and music chucked in make Premium very worthwhile to me overall.
I watch loads of stuff on YouTube, it’s a shock to see how bad it is with ads. When someone is showing me something on there or I visit YT on devices that aren’t my own, I’m aghast! Ha.
Last edited:
Just tried it on my iPhone 11 and am on IOS 14. Youtube PIP on safari worked fine for me. I am not a premium subscriber either.
i agree on all points — and $16/mo is ridiculous. I did find though if you search YouTube premium in the browser, you can find it for $12. Still too high in my opinion but that’s something.
why is this so confusing with so many options for premium? Is there a difference between the pricing I’m missing?