YouTube’s website has suddenly begun supporting picture-in-picture mode on iOS 14 enabled devices. The feature was inexplicably removed last month unless the user was an active subscriber of YouTube Premium.
The YouTube website’s picture-in-picture functionality has reappeared, says MacRumors. It can be used through Safari as well as third-party browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox as well. It appears as though a YouTube Premium is no longer required. All that is required by the user is that their device is updated to iOS 14.
To use YouTube’s picture-in-picture, users must navigate to YouTube’s website through a browser and begin watching a video. Upon tapping the fullscreen button, an option to enable picture-in-picture will be present on the top left corner of the video. Users can then multitask and use other apps while watching the YouTube video. The picture-in-picture window can also be slid to the side to free up the screen and only listen to the audio.
iOS 14 introduced picture-in-picture app functionality. However, not all apps naitively support the feature. YouTube’s naitive app, for instance, has never supported this feature on iPhone. It is possible to play YouTube videos in the background from the app, but a Premium subscription is required. iPad, on the otherhand, appears to be enabled to play videos using picture-in-picture.
YouTube may be testing a picture-in-picture mode for the YouTube app on iOS devices, according to 9to5Mac. However, YouTube has not made an official statement on the matter.
