YouTube is currently offering the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode to all the iOS users. It was previously limited to US users. iPhone users can now finally use this mode to watch videos on YouTube while using other apps on your smartphone. When you close the YouTube app, the video appears in a tiny window, which you will be able to move to different corners of the screen.
However, the feature is available for a limited time period and is accessible to those who have a YouTube Premium subscription. To use this feature, all you need to do is sign up for the testing of the Picture-in-Picture mode on YouTube for iOS by visiting YouTube’s experimental features site. The new testing program was first spotted by 9to5Google.
You need to go to Youtube.com/new site, scroll down and click on the “Try it out” button, which is visible under the ‘Picture-in-picture on iOS’ section. The button will not be visible to you if you visit the site without signing in with your YouTube Premium account.
Once you have signed up for testing, then you just need to open the YouTube app, play any video and then swipe to go home. The video should continue playing in a small window, which you will notice at the bottom of the screen. You can move the mini-player by dragging it. YouTube also lets you resize the mini-player by pinching with two fingers.
“Picture-in-Picture (PiP) allows users to watch YouTube videos in a small mini player while simultaneously browsing outside of the YouTube app on their mobile device. We’re starting to roll out PiP for YouTube Premium members on iOS and plan to launch PiP for all US iOS users as well,”
The Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode will be available until 31 October. While YouTube hasn’t revealed what will happen after that, there is a possibility that it may offer this feature to everyone who is not Premium subscribe, which the company promised in June.
It is worth pointing out that the PiP feature is already available for Android YouTube users since Android Oreo. However, to use this feature, you will have to buy the YouTube Premium subscription.
By - Vaibhav Chaudhary