One of the latest features of iOS 14 is the picture-in-picture mode, which allows you to watch a video in a small window while doing other things on your iPhone. If you want to watch a YouTube video on Safari while chatting with your friends or checking your email, it’s very easy. Unfortunately, YouTube seems to have done something to prevent videos from playing when PIP mode is active – unless you pay for the YouTube premium.
See for yourself. Pull up A video from YouTube’s website on Safari Take it full screen on your iPhone. If you tap to increase playback controls, you’ll see an image-in-picture icon in the top left corner of your screen. Tap it and the video will briefly go to its own window before returning to the default location on the YouTube site. If you try to return to your home screen while watching a video in full screen, you will see that it briefly flashes into picture-in-picture mode before disappearing.
Interestingly, As observed Mac rumors, You are Can Watch YouTube videos in picture-in-picture mode when embedded in a website. If you have a YouTube premium, the picture in the picture works as expected. This may not work properly if you are a native user. It was not as recent as yesterday Mac rumors, I remember it running on iOS 14 beta ahead of the official release of the software this week.
Picture-in-picture mode still works on YouTube videos in Safari if you use an iPad, regardless of whether you’ve got a generic or premium number.
It’s not clear if this is a bug or if YouTube intentionally removed the activity. For its own application, YouTube restricts the ability of YouTube premium subscribers to play videos in the background. It seems that YouTube wants to limit the in-picture of the film to its paid subscribers.
Google and Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
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