YouTube Wraps Its Picture-in-Picture on iOS Experiment

Did you enjoy Picture-in-picture mode on iOS? Say goodbye to it. Google officially puts an end to this experiment, removing this feature from the upcoming versions of the app. Though some lucky users will till enjoy it with iOS apps and Premium accounts, it’s not clear how long it will stay the same for them.

If you were one of those chosen to try this feature, YouTube will inform you that it’s not available anymore. The experiment has ended. This notification will appear both on the website and in mobile apps as you log in. The banner simply says: “The feature you’re trying has been turned off”. 

Strangely, but so far the feature is still available for iOS and iPadOS users who have enabled it previously and have a Premium account. They still can swipe up from the bottom while watching a video and see it in a small floating window. It’s not about the app where it remains. If you install the app on another device and log in, the feature will also be there. Again, though, even if you are a Premium subscriber but haven’t activated the feature, now you cannot – at least until something changes, and we know it may.

Picture-in-Picture is still available in the YouTube TV app. In this particular app, Google does not plan to remove it – at least, nothing of the kind has been announced. On YouTube TV, though, it makes more sense to use PiP when you’re waiting for a show or a movie to start and do something else on your device while waiting. With video-on-demand which prevails on YouTube, it’s not that useful but still pleasant to have. This makes us think that Google removes this feature to polish it and return on a constant basis. 

Did you actively use picture-in-picture in YouTube? Are you one of those happy users that still have it functioning? Do you think Google will fix and return it? Tell us what you think in the comments!