YouTube is finally rolling out picture-in-picture support for free users on iOS.
The company announced a year ago that it would bring Picture-in-Picture (PiP) support to its iPhone and iPad apps, and though it’s offered the service for Premium users for a few months, it’s now rolling out the service in the United States for all free users. It’s thought that the rollout will continue into other territories soon.
Once you’ve updated to the latest version of the YouTube app on your iPhone, simply select a video you want to watch, and then leave the YouTube app. The video should then continue to play in the Applem mini player, so you can continue using your device across other apps like Mail and Twitter whilst the video plays in the background.
Users who want to take advantage of the new feature will need to be running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 or above.
Speaking of the launch of the service, a YouTube spokesperson said: “We recognize this has been a slow roll out for a highly requested feature, and want to thank everyone who shared feedback during experiments (including recently on youtube.com/new), and waited patiently for this moment!”
Right now, the picture-in-picture feature is available for all paying YouTube Premium members and now for free users in the United States. Advertising will still show for free accounts, and no music-related content will play.
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