YouTube said Wednesday that picture-in-picture mode for YouTube TV will be available on iOS devices running iOS 15 or newer. The feature was promised on The Vergecast by YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan, and it’s finally here.
When you use picture-in-picture, you’ll be able to continue watching YouTube TV even if you leave the YouTube TV app. If you’re watching a sporting event and want to see what people are saying about what’s going on on the field, the function could come in handy. It’s a feature that’s been available on Android for a long time, so it’s exciting to see Google finally bring it to Apple’s iOS devices.
However, you are still waiting for Google to make picture-in-picture available to all users of the basic YouTube app on iOS, regardless of whether or not they have a YouTube Premium subscription. If you have a Premium subscription, that function is now in testing, and YouTube’s Labs page says you can try it out until April 8th.
Google told MacRumors in February that it’s “still aiming to introduce PiP for all users in the US who don’t have a YouTube Premium membership,” but that “We have no other updates to share at this time.” Google spokesperson Allison Toh told The Verge on Wednesday that the firm is “still testing picture-in-picture on iOS with Premium members and hope to make it available to all iOS users (Premium and non-Premium) in the US in the coming months.”