New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on February 20, 2021) follows:

Not everyone is a fan of the default YouTube app and instead prefer using its web app from the browser. And upon inquiring about why they do so, you will get a range of different answers.

Some say that it helps reduce their screen time while others feel that the YouTube app occupies too much storage. There may also be a few with the opinion that the default YouTube app is ‘buggy’.

But perhaps the greatest incentive behind it all is the fact that the YouTube mobile website is completely free from intrusive and ever-increasing ads.

youtube-mobile-site
The YouTube mobile site

This is despite the fact that its desktop site, quite oddly, still throws ads at you, just like on the mobile app.

That said, there is yet another great motive to use the YouTube website on iOS – the picture-in-picture mode. This useful little feature has unfortunately been reserved only for YouTube Premium subscribers.

Therefore, peeps that did not wish to spend on a monthly subscription just for this feature, would simply switch over to the YouTube website as per their needs.

However, the much loved YouTube picture-in-picture mode has been broken on iOS for quite a while now. Things changed with the arrival of the latest iOS 14.5 beta update though, following which, many users were elated to find the feature re-enabled once again.

This joy was only momentary, however, as just a few days later, the picture-in-picture mode was found broken once again.

youtube-pip-ios
Source

It is currently unclear as to who is to blame. But it does seem like YouTube continually patches their mobile site to stop PiP from working on iOS. After all, it is a YouTube Premium feature.

Nonetheless, there is a couple of workarounds available to get the feature up and running once again.

Firstly, there is this slick shortcut called ‘YouTube PiP Shortcut’ that does exactly what it’s named after. To download and for further details, you might want to head over to this Reddit post.

youtube-pip-shortcut

While we were unable to verify if it truly does the job, the shortcut is still definitely worth a shot.

If that did not help, then you may also try the below workaround given out by a user.

1. launch another app in the background
2. play video full screen or in PiP
3. swipe up or double-tap to move to the other app
4. browser will not force close the PiP window (tested on 14.5)
Source

Hopefully, these helped with the problem. Be sure to inform us in the comments below if that truly is the case. Feel free to also check out our iOS 14 bugs/issues tracker and our YouTube bug tracker.

Update (March 10)

Ahead of the stable iOS 14.5 release, those on beta 3 are now able to enjoy PiP on YouTube for web by enabling incognito mode on the browser. But we hope this won’t be needed in stable version.

iOS 14.5, Public Beta 3: found a temporary workaround to Google’s new restriction on not letting iPhone users to use PiP in Safari; go into incognito on the Google browser app, go to YouTube website, & bam, you can do PiP that way ???????

Check out a video of the feature in action shared on Reddit.

iOS 14.5, Public Beta 3: found a temporary workaround to Google’s new restriction on not letting iPhone users to use PiP in Safari; go into incognito on the Google browser app, go to YouTube website, & bam, you can do PiP that way 😌😂🤣👍🏻🙌🏻 from iOSBeta

Update (November 29)

It is coming to light that some YouTube TV users are now seeing PiP support on their iOS and iPadOS devices. This is interesting as on the official support page, Google says the function isn’t supported on iOS and iPad.

This stance could therefore be changing as we have a few reports popping up that it’s now supported. We shall continue to keep an eye on this so stay tuned.

Update (December 01)

Vinegar is a new Safari extension for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It was released earlier this month with the goal of replacing the YouTube player with a minimal HTML player.

Update (February 02)

YouTube has reportedly pushed the availability of picture-in-picture mode by two weeks for premium subscribers. It will now be available until February 14, as an experimental feature for devices running iOS 14 or later.

Update (April 12)

10:21 am (IST): YouTube has reportedly removed the Picture-in-picture experimental feature for iOS users. It was available for YouTube premium users.

Moreover, the company has also announced via a tweet (now deleted) that it is rolling out Picture-in-picture mode for all the users running iOS 15 or later in the US.

Update (June 16)

12:53 pm (IST): TeamYouTube on Twitter has informed users that PiP was made available temporarily on iOS for Premium subscribers. And they are working to make it accessible widely.

Update (July 8)

10:02 pm (IST): In response to multiple complaints related to the disappearance of YouTube PiP feature on iOS devices (1, 2, 3, 4), the YouTube team notes that the company is currently working on the implementation.

youtube-ios-pip-mode-1
Source

However, there are no details of an ETA for it yet. So, iOS users can only wait for more updates in this regard.

Update (July 12)

11:55 am (IST): YouTube support on Twitter has informed users that PiP (Picture in Picture) mode is now gradually rolling out for iPhone and iPad users.

It will be available for Premium members globally and non-Premium members in the US.

it’s happening! ✨ picture-in-picture is slowly rolling out for YouTube on iPhone & iPad, & just like on Android, will be avail to:

– Premium members globally &

– non-Premium members in US (non-music only) (Source)

Update (July 13)

11:51 am (IST): YouTube support has acknowledged the issue where users are getting ‘Music content cannot be played in PiP’ error even when playing non-music video. Moreover, they are currently investigating it.

Update (July 19)

06:20 pm (IST): During the rollout phase, some YouTube users on iOS had already received the ‘PiP’ option in the app settings. They only had to activate a switch to start using the feature.

But multiple reports indicate that even after receiving and enabling the ‘PiP’ option in app settings, many users are still unable to use it (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Luckily, the YouTube team has acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix.

PiunikaWeb started purely as an investigative tech journalism website with a main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Fox News, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Zohaib Ahmed
824 Posts

Simply love being surrounded by technology as it's a constant reminder of how far humans have advanced as a race. Every new development feels exciting, which I convey to others through writing. And after a day's work, gaming just feels therapeutic.

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