How to finally activate picture in picture from YouTube on iPhone

Picture-in-picture (or PiP) is a feature that iPhones have had since iOS 13, and iPads since iOS 9. YouTube, being YouTube, is coming in late to the PiP party; this announced in June that it would bring the feature to Apple devices for Premium subscribers and regular users, and has just started rolling out the feature to Apple devices. Of course, there is a catch.

PiP is currently a Premium only feature

Now i know i only said the company will offer PiP to all users, but, for now, Premium subscribers are the only ones with access to the feature on iOS and iPadOS. Although this sounds a bit like a betrayal, please rest assured that the functionality is on the way for all. YouTube just hasn’t come up with a timeline yet.

That being said, it’s not like YouTube is only adding this feature to premium subscriber apps. In fact, you won’t find any PiP option in the YouTube app. Go ahead, check it out; That is not here. No, it looks like YouTube is testing PiP on iOS before giving it a full rollout, allowing its Premium subscribers to try it out first, but only if they know where to look.

How to activate Youtube PiP for iPhone

Since PiP on iPhone and iPad is currently an ‘experimental’ feature, you need to activate it from the ‘New’ page of YouTube, where they keep their list of ‘current’ features that you can test as a user. Premium subscriber. To get started, head to YouTube.com/new, making sure that you are logged in to the corresponding Google account of your YouTube Premium. Locate the Picture in picture on iOS option, then choose “TRY IT” to confirm.

While YouTube doesn’t specifically mention iPadOS in this activation feature, you may be able to get it to work on your iPad, according to 9to5Google. You may need to remove the app and reinstall it for best functionality, however.

The next time you open your YouTube app with your Premium account, PiP should be active. All you have to do is start a video, then swipe up from the bottom of your screen (or press the Home button), and the video will follow you like a PiP window. You can resize, move, and collapse it to the side of the screen just like you can with other PiP windows on iOS.

Strangely, this feature has an expiration date of October 31st. YouTube may expect this feature to be rolled out to all users, not just Premium subscribers, but is not clear at this time. For now, just make sure you take advantage of PiP while you can.

I runproblems with YouTube’s PiP

YouTube says that if you lock your device while watching in PiP, the video will pause. You can restart playback using the media controls on the lock screen.

As mentioned above, if YouTube’s PiP isn’t working for you at all, whether you’re on an iPhone or iPad, you may need to remove and reinstall the app. Just make sure you’re signing in with the correct Google Account.

Watch PiP without a Premium Account

Youtube will deploy PiP to all users, but why wait? You can bypass these restrictions now if you don’t have a Premium account—you just won’t do it through the YouTube app. Check out our full guide here for more information.