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YouTube Says iOS Picture-in-Picture Coming to All US Users

Finally, this was driving me crazy. It even pushed me to watch content in other apps, because I was tired of being locked to the YouTube app. This will actually make their content consumption go up, never understood why they wouldn’t want to capitalize on that.
 
GreyOS said:
So. I always figured they didn’t allow this because you can swipe the video to the side and it will continue to play. This means you can play the ads without watching them.

Is there a way for them to suspend playback when it’s swiped to the side?
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If that's the case, why not enable it for Premium subscribers?
 
Sorig said:
How are people here confusing play audio while locked with picture in picture? They’re not the same thing.
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PiP-mode often works as workaround for just listening in locked mode (iphone sleep) with apps or websites which do not offer audio only.
 
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Don't have to pay for Premium :). Don't know why it is available only for US though. Hoping it becomes available globally soon.
 
Premium user for years here. PiP has not ever been a feature for premium. The feature you do get is getting the audio of a video to continue playing in the background or when the screen is off.

Real PiP can't come soon enough. Tired of having to make the smallest possible floating window as a substitute.
 
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I wonder if Google are finally doing this because too many people have switched to using Safari for YouTube? That’s what I’ve done and it means I see no adverts thanks to AdGuard, even if it is a bit of a pain running a shortcut to make PiP work on the phone.

I know Google claimed it was a technical issue because they use a custom video codec on iOS that isn’t compatible with PiP, but there’s no reason they couldn’t just initiate a hidden AVPlayerViewController, trigger PiP and pass it the URL of a compatible video format and tell it to start at the same point as the user was in the app.
 
Just adding my feedback here. I am a premium subscriber, and live in the US, run iOS 14, and still don't have the picture in picture option under settings, in General, where it's supposed to be. I was hoping to try the feature to see how it works. Though, I'm not a big PIP user, it's a nice feature, but I personally don't multitask on my phone like I do a desktop so background audio is suitable for me. Still though, would like to try YouTube's PIP, I've used it for other services, and it has it's advantages, but for me personally it also can get in the way, too. I also checked my app version, and it's at 16.2.3.3, the specified version to start receiving the PIP function. 14.6 on an iPhone 12 Pro Max, and iPad Air 2. Neither device have the option available currently.
 
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BulkSlash said:
I wonder if Google are finally doing this because too many people have switched to using Safari for YouTube? That’s what I’ve done and it means I see no adverts thanks to AdGuard, even if it is a bit of a pain running a shortcut to make PiP work on the phone.

I know Google claimed it was a technical issue because they use a custom video codec on iOS that isn’t compatible with PiP, but there’s no reason they couldn’t just initiate a hidden AVPlayerViewController, trigger PiP and pass it the URL of a compatible video format and tell it to start at the same point as the user was in the app.
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Can you link me the shortcut that works for you? I have Youtube PiP v3 but it doesn't work anymore.
 
Wonder when this will be available. Seems the app is updated correctly and the setting would be in general but no option for PIP yet

UK here
 
nathorpe said:
I don't mind YouTube restricting some features to paying subscribers, but trying to charge for something that is part of the OS always seemed a bit off to me. This will be a welcome addition!
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Don’t worry, someone will make a little app for that
 
I tried YouTube premium for a while, the best feature hands down was being able to play videos with the screen off. I just listen to the audio anyway and that was very good for my battery life. Picture in Picture? Never used it.
 
Altis said:
It's very curious to me why Apple removed the browser ability to continue playing in the background or while the screen is off. It shouldn't be any of the website's business what state my device is in.

I was able to do it longer using Opera browser but I don't think it works well anymore.

Still, at least adblock generally works in Safari. I have no idea why people use the Youtube app in the first place.
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I can play audio in the background with Safari and other 3rd party browsers just fine while the screen is closed with other websites. This is a Google YouTubes problem.
 
Shanghaichica said:
Built in feature? This only came to ios (pip) last year. Apple have no business regulating goggle for a feature they copied from android years later.
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iOS for iPad has had this for years and years, since iOS 9. It came to iOS for iPhone with iOS 14. It was available earlier than iOS 14 for iPhone for video in the Facebook app, also.
 
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